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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9422011" data-attributes="member: 42582">Together with other questions, like whether the sails and the maps are both within the cone; or whether the sails shield the maps. I mean, those are questions to which - within the causal framework of the fiction - there are definite answers dictated by physical "reality"; but in the context of gameplay there is almost never sufficiently specific information about the size, shape, composition and location of the sails, the maps, etc to apply purely physical reasoning.Stuff has to get made up. I think in your contrast you are pointing to parts of D&D that have mechanistic processes (like attack and damage rolls) but ignoring the bits that don't (like positioning, targeting, many if not most non-hp-depletion effects); while you are doing the opposite in relation to DW, pointing to bits which require the GM to make decisions (like what move to make) but ignoring the bits that have mechanistic processes (like the rolling of player-side moves or the rolling of damage).This is why I am saying that the deep contrast is between processes of play - they locate the need for decision-making in different places. A secondary contrast, which is more relevant to this thread's topic, is that the mechanistic processes in D&D are often more complicated than in DW.I'm not sure what you think is the opposite. From the point of view of how the creature description interacts with the game rules, the ankheg's acid and the chimera's flame are basically identical.Well it's not a description that I use. I don't find it very helpful, because to me it doesn't seem to provide very useful groupings of RPGs in terms of the relevant techniques and play experiences.For instance, Fate and Apocalypse World have very little in common, in terms of the relevant techniques on either player or GM side, but they both get bundled as narrative. 4e D&D and Moldvay Basic likewise have very little in common, in terms of relevant techniques, but they both get bundled as non-narrative.</blockquote>

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