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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 7518019" data-attributes="member: 6779196">Statistical significance is not the definition I’m using here, it’s just a random third example of a definition of significant, one that is also objective. The one I am using here is”having a particular meaning; indicative of something.” Like I said.I will gladly “admit” that the rules are not worthy of attention for everyone. I’ve never claimed otherwise. But it makes no sense to claim that the rules are only indicative of something to some people. They are either indicative or they are not, it is an objective quality.“Non-mechanical  elements don’t have a particular meaning within the system of game mechanics” is not a positive claim, the burden of proof is not on me. I also don’t think it’s particularly outlandish to claim that things that aren’t mechanics don’t have meaning within systems of mechanics. It may or may not have meaning to you personally, but that’s not what I’m talking about. Again, tell me what word you want me to use instead of “significant” to mean, “means something in terms of the rules system” and I’ll gladly use it instead, because I’m getting pretty sick of this bickering over semantics.I didn’t say without a roll. I said without a formula. If there is a number about be which the guard will accept and below which the guard won’t accept, that’s a formula. A basic formula, but a formula. If that number can be changed by player actions, that’s a more complex formula. If the outcome relies on a randomly generated number (a dice roll), that’s a more complex formula. But the simple if/then statement if gold offered is >=#, then bribe is accepted is a formula all on its own. That’s a game mechanic. Not all game mechanics involve dice and modifiers.No individual rule is essential to play D&D, but some individual rules are essential to the function of subsystems of rules, and certain subsystems of rules are essential to the identity of D&D. As evidenced by the overal community reactions to 4e. Some critical mass of different rules made it “not real D&D” to a significant portion of the fans. Likewise, if you changed or removed every individual rule in D&D, you’d have a very hard time trying to make a case that what you’re playing is D&D.The way your are talking about them as two things, one of which  you might have a preference for over the other, is where our views of roleplaying and mechanics fundamentally diverges. In my view, one can’t “prefer the mechanics  over the roleplay” as there is no distinction. It’s a roleplaying game, engaging with its mechanics is an act of roleplaying. One could perhaps prefer the mechanics over the narrative, but roleplaying is making decisions as you imagine you might in the role you are playing, which is precisely what an RPG’s mechanics exist to facilitate.Oh, my bad. I apologize for misconstruing your argument.*sigh* I was using the general form of the word “you.”You know, it’s realky a pain having to word my posts like I’m writing a technical manual  instead of speaking conversationally. I’ll use “one” instead of the general form of “you” if you insist, but this conversation would go a lot more smoothly if you just used an iota of contextual interpretation.It really doesn’t though, for reasons I have already discussed - they are trivially inexpensive (which I know is a problem that can be fixed by distributing less gold, but a. that’s work on my part to adjust and b. It’s only half the problem) and they offer no benefits or consequences with mechanical impact (which I know I could make up, but again, that’s more work on my part.) So, again, we comeback to, “if ONE wants gold to have a use that has relevance within the system of mechanics known as D&D 5e, ONE has to do the work to make it so themselves.” This is not a condemnation of anyone’s playbstyle preferences. If you don’t mind that the uses for gold are purely narrative, that’s absolutely fine. Great, even. Enjoy the game catering to your preferences. Please don’t tell ME I’m wrong for lamenting that I don’t have anything I consider worth spending gold on.</blockquote>

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