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What's Your "Sweet Spot" for a Skill system?
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9194721" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>To me... skills (and indeed all mechanics) are just randomizers for the response of 'Yes, And' in the improvisation that is roleplaying.</p><p></p><p>You as a player improvise a response to something the GM states in-game. The result of that improvisation is never going to be the same, so we need a way to vary up that result. Game mechanics (like rolling skills) give us a baseline of possible results-- Yes, we succeed 100%; No, we fail 100%; Yes, we succeed but not completely-- something else happens that give us a slight stumbling block; No, we fail but not completely-- something else happens that give us a slight benefit. And any other kinds of responses the mechanical system wishes to throw in.</p><p></p><p>So the precise way of acquiring those results does not REALLY matter-- it could just be as simple as flipping a coin if we wanted, and then we'd improvise what happens to us after that result got revealed. But because just flipping a coin can get boring after a while... game designers always try to create interesting randomization games for us to use instead. And whether the system works or not depends on just <em>how much fun</em> that randomization game is to use and play. Whether it's dice, or cards, or spinners, or Jenga towers, or any other "game mechanic" the RPG uses... the more fun the game is, the more compelling it is for us to use it, and the more creative we get when we acquire our results out of it. And the bad systems are ones that don't trigger our imaginations and our feelings of "fun". You could have the more involved and precise system designed in the world to represent everything that could come into affect as the result of our improv decision... but if that system just isn't fun to use, then it ends up being pointless.</p><p></p><p>So I don't care how many Skills a system has per se... I care about what my imagination needs to get inspired by the result of the randomization game that gives it to me. If the system uses only Abilities and not Skills but the game is still fun, that's great! Or the system is only Skills and does not have Abilities and the game is still fun, that's great too! Or a combination of both, or Abilities <em>and</em> Skills <em>and</em> Specializations within Skills <em>and</em> Features outside of Abilities and Skills all working in concert to make the dice game fun and dramatic and compelling to play... I'll take any of them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 9194721, member: 7006"] To me... skills (and indeed all mechanics) are just randomizers for the response of 'Yes, And' in the improvisation that is roleplaying. You as a player improvise a response to something the GM states in-game. The result of that improvisation is never going to be the same, so we need a way to vary up that result. Game mechanics (like rolling skills) give us a baseline of possible results-- Yes, we succeed 100%; No, we fail 100%; Yes, we succeed but not completely-- something else happens that give us a slight stumbling block; No, we fail but not completely-- something else happens that give us a slight benefit. And any other kinds of responses the mechanical system wishes to throw in. So the precise way of acquiring those results does not REALLY matter-- it could just be as simple as flipping a coin if we wanted, and then we'd improvise what happens to us after that result got revealed. But because just flipping a coin can get boring after a while... game designers always try to create interesting randomization games for us to use instead. And whether the system works or not depends on just [I]how much fun[/I] that randomization game is to use and play. Whether it's dice, or cards, or spinners, or Jenga towers, or any other "game mechanic" the RPG uses... the more fun the game is, the more compelling it is for us to use it, and the more creative we get when we acquire our results out of it. And the bad systems are ones that don't trigger our imaginations and our feelings of "fun". You could have the more involved and precise system designed in the world to represent everything that could come into affect as the result of our improv decision... but if that system just isn't fun to use, then it ends up being pointless. So I don't care how many Skills a system has per se... I care about what my imagination needs to get inspired by the result of the randomization game that gives it to me. If the system uses only Abilities and not Skills but the game is still fun, that's great! Or the system is only Skills and does not have Abilities and the game is still fun, that's great too! Or a combination of both, or Abilities [I]and[/I] Skills [I]and[/I] Specializations within Skills [I]and[/I] Features outside of Abilities and Skills all working in concert to make the dice game fun and dramatic and compelling to play... I'll take any of them. [/QUOTE]
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