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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 7769331" data-attributes="member: 22779">Whereas, my experience is almost completely opposite.&nbsp; Because so many people are really, really bad at calculating odds, DM's, again IME (and I'm including myself in here) tend to rig the game to the point where attempting anything that wasn't specifically mechanically prescribed, was mostly pointless.&nbsp; And players learned that very quickly.&nbsp; So, you never bothered trying to have your fighter climb a wall.&nbsp; It was almost assuredly going to fail anyway, so, either get the thief to do it or get a spell/magic item.&nbsp; I find that in true rules light games - where you have mechanics that are broadly applicable, players are far more willing to try things because they know that their chances of success are good enough that the risk/reward balance is positive enough.&nbsp; As far as &quot;drawing on what seems the most appropriate mechanic available&quot; goes, well, fair enough I suppose.&nbsp; I'm not really sure what a save vs petrification had to do with climbing a wall or jumping over a pit, but, hey, I guess it's appropriate <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/paranoid.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":uhoh:" title="Paranoid&nbsp; &nbsp; :uhoh:" data-shortname=":uhoh:" />.&nbsp; AFAIC, most of the time is was just variations on the &quot;Roll High&quot; school of game mechanics where the numbers don't really matter so long as the roll is &quot;good enough&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp; But, be that as it may, the point still stands.&nbsp; It wasn't &quot;rulings not rules&quot; back in the day because there were no rules at all.&nbsp; The rules were entirely absent.&nbsp; So, out comes the Amateur Game Designer hat and create a rule that the table is happy enough with.Which works fantastic when the DM is really on the ball.&nbsp; But, when the DM wasn't?&nbsp; Whoo boy that was some unbelievably bad gaming.&nbsp; But, in any case, none of it had anything to do with things like &quot;story&quot; or &quot;plot&quot; or anything like that.&nbsp; That's not what differentiates Old School and New School.&nbsp; What truly sets the schools apart is how much is the DM/GM present in the mechanics of that table?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 7769331, member: 22779"] Whereas, my experience is almost completely opposite. Because so many people are really, really bad at calculating odds, DM's, again IME (and I'm including myself in here) tend to rig the game to the point where attempting anything that wasn't specifically mechanically prescribed, was mostly pointless. And players learned that very quickly. So, you never bothered trying to have your fighter climb a wall. It was almost assuredly going to fail anyway, so, either get the thief to do it or get a spell/magic item. I find that in true rules light games - where you have mechanics that are broadly applicable, players are far more willing to try things because they know that their chances of success are good enough that the risk/reward balance is positive enough. As far as "drawing on what seems the most appropriate mechanic available" goes, well, fair enough I suppose. I'm not really sure what a save vs petrification had to do with climbing a wall or jumping over a pit, but, hey, I guess it's appropriate :uhoh:. AFAIC, most of the time is was just variations on the "Roll High" school of game mechanics where the numbers don't really matter so long as the roll is "good enough". But, be that as it may, the point still stands. It wasn't "rulings not rules" back in the day because there were no rules at all. The rules were entirely absent. So, out comes the Amateur Game Designer hat and create a rule that the table is happy enough with. Which works fantastic when the DM is really on the ball. But, when the DM wasn't? Whoo boy that was some unbelievably bad gaming. But, in any case, none of it had anything to do with things like "story" or "plot" or anything like that. That's not what differentiates Old School and New School. What truly sets the schools apart is how much is the DM/GM present in the mechanics of that table? [/QUOTE]

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