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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6863629" data-attributes="member: 42582">I don't see why either of these claims is true.Your stamina is running out. You barely manage to dodge the orc's blow.You are being hard-pressed by your foes.You feel your resolve slipping.You can see that your comrade's spirits are flagging.Hope is ebbing.I don't know if this is the sort of thing that [MENTION=6701872]AaronOfBarbaria[/MENTION] has in mind.Speak for yourself! If the rules don't put the players into the same general mental and emotional state as their PCs, the rules aren't doing their job.In RPGs with blind action declaration, for instance, that feeling of uncertainty corresponds to the uncertainty experienced by the PC.In D&amp;D, when a PC's spirits are flagging, the player can see the hit point total dropping - and the player's spirits flag.A more complex example, from my 4e game: the Chained Cambion (in MM3) is described in its flavour text as having a &quot;tortured psyche&quot;, as &quot;hat[ing] its life, its captors, and its enemies who roam free&quot;, and as &quot;screaming its despair within the minds of nearby foes.&quot; And it has a mind shackles ability which causes two enemies to take ongoing damage unless they are adjacent to one another, with each victim having to make a separate saving throw. When I used this in game, I shackled the melee fighter to the archer ranger. As the two players had to coordinate their actions or else take damage, they started bickering and complaining. Once one had saved but the other hadn't, the bickering got worse, because the one who had saved nevertheless had to stay shackled because the other player couldn't roll a d20 high enough!In other words, I didn't have to tell the players to pretend to be filled with despair and hate towards one another; the mechanic ensured that this actually happened (in a light-hearted way, or course!).These are all examples of the rules serving to generate a particular emotional state in the players.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6863629, member: 42582"] I don't see why either of these claims is true. [I]Your stamina is running out.[/I] [I]You barely manage to dodge the orc's blow.[/I] [I]You are being hard-pressed by your foes.[/I] [I]You feel your resolve slipping.[/I] [I]You can see that your comrade's spirits are flagging.[/I] [I]Hope is ebbing.[/I] I don't know if this is the sort of thing that [MENTION=6701872]AaronOfBarbaria[/MENTION] has in mind. Speak for yourself! If the rules don't put the players into the same general mental and emotional state as their PCs, the rules aren't doing their job. In RPGs with blind action declaration, for instance, that feeling of uncertainty corresponds to the uncertainty experienced by the PC. In D&D, when a PC's spirits are flagging, the player can see the hit point total dropping - and the player's spirits flag. A more complex example, from my 4e game: the Chained Cambion (in MM3) is described in its flavour text as having a "tortured psyche", as "hat[ing] its life, its captors, and its enemies who roam free", and as "screaming its despair within the minds of nearby foes." And it has a mind shackles ability which causes two enemies to take ongoing damage unless they are adjacent to one another, with each victim having to make a separate saving throw. When I used this in game, I shackled the melee fighter to the archer ranger. As the two players had to coordinate their actions or else take damage, they started bickering and complaining. Once one had saved but the other hadn't, the bickering got worse, because the one who had saved nevertheless had to stay shackled because the other player couldn't roll a d20 high enough! In other words, I didn't have to tell the players to pretend to be filled with despair and hate towards one another; the mechanic ensured that this actually happened (in a light-hearted way, or course!). These are all examples of the rules serving to generate a particular emotional state in the players. [/QUOTE]

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