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Message: <blockquote data-quote="soviet" data-source="post: 9660822" data-attributes="member: 6925338">Sure.I think that one purpose of game design is to create a language during play. As humans playing a game we're going to be saying the words of our game actions and character abilities repeatedly throughout the experience. So, lets use that to create and reinforce the desired atmosphere of the gameworld/genre. For example, in a fantasy game I think it's more evocative to say 'make a Maintain Spell check' than 'make a Concentration check', to make a 'Fighting Retreat' than to 'Disengage', or to 'perform a Coup de Grace' than to 'Attack an Unconscious Foe'.Clearly you can take this too far and start to obfuscate your real meaning but there are a lot of easy wins that get missed IMO. The cold gamey language of Attacks of Opportunity, Investigation checks, or 'once per long rest' does no-one any favours.My game Other Worlds is designed to support this principle of evocative language. Characters have a bunch of player-created narrative descriptor abilities like Lightning Reflexes, Elven Upbringing, Expert Archer, and so on. The idea is that when you make an action and use an ability just the act of vocalising that game ability reinforces the genre and highlights the nature of your character. We don't both make Persuade checks against the King, I make a roll using my Effusive Charm and you make a roll using your Aura of Divine Authority. The tone of our respective attempts already feel different. The possible outcomes of those rolls are also likely different.You can also use one ability to support another. Again, this requires a vocalisation of those abilities. This helps to reinforce how you are doing something and what parts of the character's abilities or experience are contributing to that. If I say that my character's Stare Down Foe check is supported by his Terrible Battle Scars and Hero of Helm's Deep abilities that tells you much more about him than making an Intimidate check with a +2 bonus or advantage. When games boil down character traits and differences to '+2 to this' or 'advantage on that' what they actually do is bury those traits and differences into a calculation and stop them being mentioned at the table.</blockquote>

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