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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9334991" data-attributes="member: 42582">I doubt there is such a single thing as &quot;pliering&quot; which admits of degrees of effectiveness in respect of it.My example was of the degree of utility of a plier for getting a stuck nail out of a bit of timber. And even if you can rank the utility of your plier, your hammer-claw and your magnet it doesn't follow that there are any number of other actual or possible tools whose utility could also be ranked so as to create a continuum.And even if that were so, we wouldn't have a continuum of tools. We would have a continuum of tools of some utility for removing this nail from this bit of timber. Which is not a very analytically portable continuum.Applying this to RPGs: what goal do you have in mind, for which you are now ranking the utility of tools? Where are you getting your catalogue of possible tools from? And what possible basis is there for thinking that there is a continuum's worth of such tools?I mean, let's look at an actual goal - increasing rightward arrows (from clouds to boxes) - and an actual set of tools - the way 5e D&amp;D combat is resolved. What feasible changes might be made to the procedure of D&amp;D combat that would increase the number of rightward arrows?Before we start pontificating about hypothetical techniques serving hypothetical goals, let's address an actual design question that some RPGers are actually worried about.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 9334991, member: 42582"] I doubt there is such a single thing as "pliering" which admits of degrees of effectiveness in respect of it. My example was of the degree of utility of a plier for getting a stuck nail out of a bit of timber. And even if you can rank the utility of your plier, your hammer-claw and your magnet it doesn't follow that there are any number of other actual or possible tools whose utility could also be ranked so as to create a continuum. And even if that were so, we wouldn't have a continuum of tools. We would have a continuum of [I]tools of some utility for removing this nail from this bit of timber[/I]. Which is not a very analytically portable continuum. Applying this to RPGs: what goal do you have in mind, for which you are now ranking the utility of tools? Where are you getting your catalogue of possible tools from? And what possible basis is there for thinking that there is a continuum's worth of such tools? I mean, let's look at an actual goal - increasing rightward arrows (from clouds to boxes) - and an actual set of tools - the way 5e D&D combat is resolved. What feasible changes might be made to the procedure of D&D combat that would increase the number of rightward arrows? Before we start pontificating about hypothetical techniques serving hypothetical goals, let's address an actual design question that some RPGers are actually worried about. [/QUOTE]

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