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Why do RPGs have rules?
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<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 9040157" data-attributes="member: 6785785"><p>That’s one part of it, absolutely. </p><p></p><p>But the point I was really trying to make was about how active the players are in driving the focus of play. Do they pursue specific goals? Do they make things happen? Or do things just happen to them? </p><p></p><p>Looking at it another way… let’s assume the characters are going to have a series of adventures. Seems a safe assumption for characters in an RPG. What makes more sense? That those adventures would have connections to the characters? That in pursuing their goals they actually do things related to their goals? Or, alternatively, unrelated remarkable things just continue to happen to them? That wherever they go, totally unrelated to them, momentous things continue to happen?</p><p></p><p>I think the former makes more sense than the latter. But I recognize that as my preference. Neither is more realistic. Both could conceivably happen. So I think it’s better to evaluate these things in ways other than “realism”. Better to evaluate it in some concrete way beyond the fiction. How do they compare as processes of play? </p><p></p><p>Also, the idea of dramatic needs doesn’t need to be so specific as “finding the orcs that murdered my family” and that kind of thing. GMs are able to construct scenarios that seem unrelated to characters historically, but which speak to their morals or outlooks in some way.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 9040157, member: 6785785"] That’s one part of it, absolutely. But the point I was really trying to make was about how active the players are in driving the focus of play. Do they pursue specific goals? Do they make things happen? Or do things just happen to them? Looking at it another way… let’s assume the characters are going to have a series of adventures. Seems a safe assumption for characters in an RPG. What makes more sense? That those adventures would have connections to the characters? That in pursuing their goals they actually do things related to their goals? Or, alternatively, unrelated remarkable things just continue to happen to them? That wherever they go, totally unrelated to them, momentous things continue to happen? I think the former makes more sense than the latter. But I recognize that as my preference. Neither is more realistic. Both could conceivably happen. So I think it’s better to evaluate these things in ways other than “realism”. Better to evaluate it in some concrete way beyond the fiction. How do they compare as processes of play? Also, the idea of dramatic needs doesn’t need to be so specific as “finding the orcs that murdered my family” and that kind of thing. GMs are able to construct scenarios that seem unrelated to characters historically, but which speak to their morals or outlooks in some way. [/QUOTE]
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