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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5554185" data-attributes="member: 82106">Well, there is concept, then there is execution, which is mechanics. Now, when you create a character in some generics based system your concept MIGHT be inspired by existing mechanics, but the mechanics were put there in the first place to support the concept, or a range of related concepts. You wouldn't create a Hero System character who's CONCEPTS are 'blast', and 'slam', and 'damage reduction'. You might look at those mechanics and think "Oh, I can make a guy that shoots a bow, can knocks someone down with a body blow, and has magic armor that deflects attacks." but the given mechanics are just support for those elements in play. Maybe it doesn't matter to a particular player what they play and they get all their inspiration from the mechanics of the game, but the character itself is concept, embodied in game mechanics. The reason those mechanics EXIST is so you can make characters armed with bows, blaster rifles, psychic mind blasts, or whatever you can imagine. If the 'blast' mechanic didn't exist, then it would have to be invented in order to support those concepts if they were going to appear in the game, not the other way around.The case is very similar in 4e. Not being a generic system the case is much clearer, the mechanics of longsword exist to support the concept of a long bladed sword type weapon used in one hand. The game designers didn't sit down and create random assemblies of weapon stats and then give them names. Nor really did the designers of some generic system, they simply painted with broader strokes and based their mechanics on more abstract conceptual grounds.Now consider the obverse. Many concepts can exist with no supporting mechanics at all. D&D got along for over a decade with no skill system at all worth mentioning, yet characters were regularly performing skilled tasks either according to DM fiat or with some kind of ad-hoc mechanism. Original D&D didn't distinguish between swords and maces but the concepts certain existed and PCs were regularly equipped with a mace, or a longsword, or a spear. Nobody sat down and decried that they couldn't have a longsword because it lacked mechanics. The specific mechanics for each weapon only came along later because people thought it would be interesting to distinguish different weapon types.Many concepts require no mechanics at all. In fact NO concept absolutely requires mechanics, you can tell stories with no rules at all, mechanics are a convenience. Without a concept for them to reflect you don't have an RPG, you have chess.</blockquote>

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