Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
What is a "Narrative Mechanic"?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 9145822" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Look, by any defensible definition of 'diegetic' there can be NO game mechanics who's operation by a player fits that bill. That's my conclusion. Rolling dice is not diegetic (aside from your peculiar case, perhaps), marking off hit points of damage is not diegetic, no forms of manipulation of a currency are diegetic, etc.</p><p></p><p>In fact, all of this was known and acknowledged in the early days of D&D! I can definitively state that this is the case, as it was widely discussed at the time (there has been considerable terminological shift since then). It was widely understood that a fully diegetic game practice would involve the GM rolling all dice, the non-conveyance of any facts about the existence of or state of things like hit points, etc. A GM would keep ALL of this hidden from the players, simply narrating the fictional state (IE the orc slices you with his sword, but you manage to dodge the worst of it, you now have a large cut across your chest!). There were people who actually experimented with this style of play, though it was never very popular as it clashed pretty heavily with classic play.</p><p></p><p>I don't know if Dave or Gary ever experimented with this kind of play themselves, but they were at least aware of the ramifications, as there are various advice given about keeping certain things behind the screen, etc. My suspicion is that Gary didn't practice this kind of thing and would have considered it rather impractical and less fun, but I'm just guessing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 9145822, member: 82106"] Look, by any defensible definition of 'diegetic' there can be NO game mechanics who's operation by a player fits that bill. That's my conclusion. Rolling dice is not diegetic (aside from your peculiar case, perhaps), marking off hit points of damage is not diegetic, no forms of manipulation of a currency are diegetic, etc. In fact, all of this was known and acknowledged in the early days of D&D! I can definitively state that this is the case, as it was widely discussed at the time (there has been considerable terminological shift since then). It was widely understood that a fully diegetic game practice would involve the GM rolling all dice, the non-conveyance of any facts about the existence of or state of things like hit points, etc. A GM would keep ALL of this hidden from the players, simply narrating the fictional state (IE the orc slices you with his sword, but you manage to dodge the worst of it, you now have a large cut across your chest!). There were people who actually experimented with this style of play, though it was never very popular as it clashed pretty heavily with classic play. I don't know if Dave or Gary ever experimented with this kind of play themselves, but they were at least aware of the ramifications, as there are various advice given about keeping certain things behind the screen, etc. My suspicion is that Gary didn't practice this kind of thing and would have considered it rather impractical and less fun, but I'm just guessing. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
What is a "Narrative Mechanic"?
Top