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World of Design: The Lost Art of Making Things Up
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8122052" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>What sort of imagination are we concerned with, in relation to RPGing?</p><p></p><p>There is the role of imagination in action resolution. There are different ways to support this. I saw quite a bit of this in Rolemaster play, because the players - especially players of spell users - have a wide range of ways open to them to change the fiction. Some of that is mechanical - eg clever spell combinations - but a lot of it is playing the fiction directly, relying on the fact that the system has the ability to translate unexpected fiction into mechanical outcomes where necessary (eg via the use of crit tables, or the move/manoeuvre table).</p><p></p><p>I also saw a lot of this in 4e play. 4e characters don't have the same lists of abilities as a mid-to-high level RM spell user, but the rules for translating even wild or gonzo fantasy moves into mechanical consequences are second-to-none.</p><p></p><p>Of the systems I've played, the one I would say that provided the least support for imagination in action resolution was AD&D: it doesn't provide the same range of ways to affect the fiction as a RM spell user has, and it doesn't have robust mechanical tools to support translation of imaginative play into mechanical consequences.</p><p></p><p>In RPGIng there is also the role of imagination in establishing and directing the "story", the sequence of events in play. The main threat to this, in my view, is GM pre-authorship of the fiction. This has been a thing in RPGing for a <em>long </em>time. There are well-known and robust approaches to RPGing that enable story to be a big part of play without anyone needing to pre-author it. Some of the best games for this sort of play are relatively recent, and so I don't see this imaginative dimension of the hobby to be under any threat either.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8122052, member: 42582"] What sort of imagination are we concerned with, in relation to RPGing? There is the role of imagination in action resolution. There are different ways to support this. I saw quite a bit of this in Rolemaster play, because the players - especially players of spell users - have a wide range of ways open to them to change the fiction. Some of that is mechanical - eg clever spell combinations - but a lot of it is playing the fiction directly, relying on the fact that the system has the ability to translate unexpected fiction into mechanical outcomes where necessary (eg via the use of crit tables, or the move/manoeuvre table). I also saw a lot of this in 4e play. 4e characters don't have the same lists of abilities as a mid-to-high level RM spell user, but the rules for translating even wild or gonzo fantasy moves into mechanical consequences are second-to-none. Of the systems I've played, the one I would say that provided the least support for imagination in action resolution was AD&D: it doesn't provide the same range of ways to affect the fiction as a RM spell user has, and it doesn't have robust mechanical tools to support translation of imaginative play into mechanical consequences. In RPGIng there is also the role of imagination in establishing and directing the "story", the sequence of events in play. The main threat to this, in my view, is GM pre-authorship of the fiction. This has been a thing in RPGing for a [I]long [/I]time. There are well-known and robust approaches to RPGing that enable story to be a big part of play without anyone needing to pre-author it. Some of the best games for this sort of play are relatively recent, and so I don't see this imaginative dimension of the hobby to be under any threat either. [/QUOTE]
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