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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Worlds of Design: How "Precise" Should RPG Rules Be?
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<blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 7769695" data-attributes="member: 5142"><p>Already lewpuls lost me. Not a great start. </p><p></p><p>For starters, I don't think that it helps to describe Fate as essentially a "non-traditional" game. Fate has been around for 15 years, and it is built on a FUDGE chassis that has been around for 27 years. When does the non-traditional become traditional? In many respects, the game appears fairly conventional. Fate's primary mechanical innovations to Fudge involve its use of Aspects: e.g., aspects, fate point economy, Create an Advantage action, etc. Aspects are essentially narrative tags with mechanical weight that allows for them to enter play (Fate SRD): </p><p>(1) Aspects provide a generalized rule/mechanic that can have as much precision as deemed necessary by the Table in play. </p><p></p><p>(2) Aspects often cover a greater breadth of specific rules with a generalized one. This is most commonly done with the Create an Advantage action, where players (or NPCs) seek to establish a new narrative aspect. </p><p></p><p>For example, a player may seek to disarm their opponent. So while dueling, the PC may attempt to Create an Advantage to disarm their opponent using their Fighting skill. This would likely entail their opponent using an opposed Defend action roll with their own Fighting skill. If the player succeeds, then they may name the new Aspect (i.e., narrative tag) "Sword Flung to the Ground." The opponent is effectively disarmed per the in-game fiction, which confers mechanical advantages for the PC should they evoke it. The opponent can also spend an action to remove the Aspect, essentially the same as dashing for their weapon. </p><p></p><p>This singular generalized rule for Create an Advantage can be used to cover the same breadth of specific rules in other systems (e.g., D&D 3e/Pathfinder) for various combat maneuvers such as Disarm, Knock Prone, Sunder, Grapple, Trip, etc. And the effect is fundamentally the same. But the power of naming Aspects also permits greater narrative precision or specificity of what is transpiring in the fiction. A generalized rule does not inherently mean that it fundamentally lacks imprecision of implementation. </p><p></p><p>I would also like to talk about this generalization as well. Sure AD&D 1e has a lot of individual rules for particularized situations. ("Old School gaming is rulings not rules," my ass.) But as I have been looking at a lot of games that have come out of the OSR movement lately, I think that it is almost abundantly clear that the ascribed precision is not necessarily deemed a quintessential aspect of the game. Admittedly, a lot of OSR seems to prefer OD&D and Basic over Advanced as their source of inspiration. And there has been a tremendous abundance of OSR games that have turned the "vast rules of versions of D&D beginning with Advanced D&D (1e)" into games that are as relatively short as Fate, if not shorter.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aldarc, post: 7769695, member: 5142"] Already lewpuls lost me. Not a great start. For starters, I don't think that it helps to describe Fate as essentially a "non-traditional" game. Fate has been around for 15 years, and it is built on a FUDGE chassis that has been around for 27 years. When does the non-traditional become traditional? In many respects, the game appears fairly conventional. Fate's primary mechanical innovations to Fudge involve its use of Aspects: e.g., aspects, fate point economy, Create an Advantage action, etc. Aspects are essentially narrative tags with mechanical weight that allows for them to enter play (Fate SRD): (1) Aspects provide a generalized rule/mechanic that can have as much precision as deemed necessary by the Table in play. (2) Aspects often cover a greater breadth of specific rules with a generalized one. This is most commonly done with the Create an Advantage action, where players (or NPCs) seek to establish a new narrative aspect. For example, a player may seek to disarm their opponent. So while dueling, the PC may attempt to Create an Advantage to disarm their opponent using their Fighting skill. This would likely entail their opponent using an opposed Defend action roll with their own Fighting skill. If the player succeeds, then they may name the new Aspect (i.e., narrative tag) "Sword Flung to the Ground." The opponent is effectively disarmed per the in-game fiction, which confers mechanical advantages for the PC should they evoke it. The opponent can also spend an action to remove the Aspect, essentially the same as dashing for their weapon. This singular generalized rule for Create an Advantage can be used to cover the same breadth of specific rules in other systems (e.g., D&D 3e/Pathfinder) for various combat maneuvers such as Disarm, Knock Prone, Sunder, Grapple, Trip, etc. And the effect is fundamentally the same. But the power of naming Aspects also permits greater narrative precision or specificity of what is transpiring in the fiction. A generalized rule does not inherently mean that it fundamentally lacks imprecision of implementation. I would also like to talk about this generalization as well. Sure AD&D 1e has a lot of individual rules for particularized situations. ("Old School gaming is rulings not rules," my ass.) But as I have been looking at a lot of games that have come out of the OSR movement lately, I think that it is almost abundantly clear that the ascribed precision is not necessarily deemed a quintessential aspect of the game. Admittedly, a lot of OSR seems to prefer OD&D and Basic over Advanced as their source of inspiration. And there has been a tremendous abundance of OSR games that have turned the "vast rules of versions of D&D beginning with Advanced D&D (1e)" into games that are as relatively short as Fate, if not shorter. [/QUOTE]
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