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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 9859608" data-attributes="member: 6787503">I would venture to guess this is because you elevate setting exploration (i.e. imagining and "interacting with" the setting) above other priorities and interests people might have when playing RPGs. For example and to get back to the OP's topic, ability scores are a venue for engaging with the character as an aspect of setting, so your roleplaying of the character is an expression (in part) of what their ability scores reveal to you about the setting. Is that about right?Where I would differ with that is that my own preference as a player is to roleplay my character from its "driver's seat", regarding its ability scores and other mechanics on the sheet as downstream from my decision making. Of course I consider my character's capabilities when assessing risk and possible courses of action, but ultimately I, the player, am fully in charge and responsible for my character's decisions. I would regard an expectation to portray an ability score as an intrusive, burdensome, and ill-defined removal of my agency -- a railroad. Like I said up-thread, I wouldn't play in such a game. Now, I actually very much like verbal cues such as 5.0/1E's personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws, especially if the DM is onboard with awarding Inspiration. I also use a "high concept" composed of race, class, and alignment when thinking about my character's identity, so I'm not completely averse to elements that are somewhat prescriptive of roleplaying. I like when they are prompts that can affect my decision making rather than some perhaps vaguely defined quality of the character, like an ability score, I'm expected to portray. My priority, then, which guides these preferences, is for gameplay to focus on situations presented by the GM and for the interface to be relatively thin between myself, as player, and those situations. Whether it's a challenge to my character to overcome the situation or to myself to remain true to my character in the face of adversity, it's my decisions as a player that are being tested. Filtering those decisions through my character's ability scores would remove the accountability I value.</blockquote>

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