HidesHisEyes
2018-03-06, 04:07 PM
Just been reading this article from the always interesting Justin Alexander and it got me thinking.
http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4238/roleplaying-games/the-art-of-rulings
There’s always a line in the sand where you rule that “beyond this point, using game mechanics to abstract what is happening becomes more fun than making definite choices about what a character is doing.”
You have to decide where that line should be. I think most of us can agree it should be after “I pick the lock” but before “I insert my lockpick and start wiggling”, unless the group has very specific tastes and the DM is willing to do some pretty serious research on the real world mechanics of lockpicking. Imagine playing this way in combat:
“I attack the orc with my sword.”
“Ok. The orc is raising his shield at a 52 degree angle while readying his axe for a downward slice. What body part are you aiming for and are you slashing or thrusting?”
And so on until the combat is resolved without a single dice roll.
At the other end of the spectrum:
“You are standing at the entrance to the dungeon. What do you do?”
“I enter the dungeon and explore it carefully, avoiding direct confrontation with monsters, with the aim of getting as much treasure as possible and escaping intact.”
“Make a Dungeoneering check.”
“14.”
“You explore the dungeon, fight some kobolds and a gelatinous cube, lose 20 hit points but escape with 96 gold pieces’ worth of treasure.”
That’s probably enough but if you feel like indulging me:
“You’re an adventurer in a fantasy world. What do you do?”
“I strike out into the world with the intention of using my wits and my various abilities and skills to fight evil, make the world a better place and get rich in the process.”
“Calculate the average of your ability bonuses and add your proficiency bonus. Roll a d20 and add that number.”
“14.”
“You have a reasonably successful adventuring career, you save a couple of towns from impending doom, you slay a dragon at one point, you almost die a couple of times, but ultimately you find enough treasure to retire to a comfortable life as a married innkeeper with a couple of cool scars and stories to tell, and live to a ripe old age, occasionally missing your adventuring days, sometimes waking up from nightmares involving mindflayers, but most of the time just thankful for the gift of life as you kiss your spouse, gaze on the face of your sleeping child or just enjoy smoking your pipe and watching the sun set behind the mountains. Good job.”
No, I don’t have any particular thoughts about how this should actually inform how we run games, except to point out that traps seem to be a particular sticking point. A lot of people seem to think traps are boring when we abstract them to the point of “make a roll to detect the trap, make another roll to disarm it” - but it’s often more work than seems worthwhile to figure out the details of every trap to the point where players can resolve it with the right sequence of defined choices. And yet many of us would like to include traps in our games. Anyone have any ideas on where to draw the abstraction line when it comes to traps?
http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4238/roleplaying-games/the-art-of-rulings
There’s always a line in the sand where you rule that “beyond this point, using game mechanics to abstract what is happening becomes more fun than making definite choices about what a character is doing.”
You have to decide where that line should be. I think most of us can agree it should be after “I pick the lock” but before “I insert my lockpick and start wiggling”, unless the group has very specific tastes and the DM is willing to do some pretty serious research on the real world mechanics of lockpicking. Imagine playing this way in combat:
“I attack the orc with my sword.”
“Ok. The orc is raising his shield at a 52 degree angle while readying his axe for a downward slice. What body part are you aiming for and are you slashing or thrusting?”
And so on until the combat is resolved without a single dice roll.
At the other end of the spectrum:
“You are standing at the entrance to the dungeon. What do you do?”
“I enter the dungeon and explore it carefully, avoiding direct confrontation with monsters, with the aim of getting as much treasure as possible and escaping intact.”
“Make a Dungeoneering check.”
“14.”
“You explore the dungeon, fight some kobolds and a gelatinous cube, lose 20 hit points but escape with 96 gold pieces’ worth of treasure.”
That’s probably enough but if you feel like indulging me:
“You’re an adventurer in a fantasy world. What do you do?”
“I strike out into the world with the intention of using my wits and my various abilities and skills to fight evil, make the world a better place and get rich in the process.”
“Calculate the average of your ability bonuses and add your proficiency bonus. Roll a d20 and add that number.”
“14.”
“You have a reasonably successful adventuring career, you save a couple of towns from impending doom, you slay a dragon at one point, you almost die a couple of times, but ultimately you find enough treasure to retire to a comfortable life as a married innkeeper with a couple of cool scars and stories to tell, and live to a ripe old age, occasionally missing your adventuring days, sometimes waking up from nightmares involving mindflayers, but most of the time just thankful for the gift of life as you kiss your spouse, gaze on the face of your sleeping child or just enjoy smoking your pipe and watching the sun set behind the mountains. Good job.”
No, I don’t have any particular thoughts about how this should actually inform how we run games, except to point out that traps seem to be a particular sticking point. A lot of people seem to think traps are boring when we abstract them to the point of “make a roll to detect the trap, make another roll to disarm it” - but it’s often more work than seems worthwhile to figure out the details of every trap to the point where players can resolve it with the right sequence of defined choices. And yet many of us would like to include traps in our games. Anyone have any ideas on where to draw the abstraction line when it comes to traps?