Do people really enjoy close battles?

[icefractal]

the cynic in me welcomes you to how 4e D&D lovers feel when someone throws the word "videogamey" or "mmo" for a game style that works for them (myself included).

This. Is "Mother May I" a negative way to put it? Yes. Is a preference for mechanics discussed as a negative thing (sometimes even "video game induced brain damage") extremely often? Also yes. Stones, glass houses, etc.

So personally, I consider the ability to go beyond the rules very important, but if I'm doing so it should be for something the rules can't practically cover. Rigging up some special-purpose device? Ok, sure, let's negotiate. Jumping over a pit? There can and should just be concrete rules for that.

And something that may draw people to concrete abilities - being in control of your own parameters is more relaxing. For example, I can walk or take the bus to get downtown. Walking takes roughly 40 minutes, the bus takes on average 15 (for combined wait time and travel time). So the bus is better, right? Well, if I walk, I know I'll be there in 40 minutes. If I take the bus, I will probably be there in 15. Unless a bus breaks down. And the next one is slow because of picking up more people. And there's more traffic than typical. And so it's possible that I'll end up taking more than 40 minutes, plus I won't know that fact until it's too late to walk instead. For that reason (and that I like walking), I generally walk unless it's raining or I'm in a hurry and willing to take a gamble.

In the same way, "now I'll do this thing that I know will work" is more relaxing than "I can try to do this thing, and it will probably work how I think, but maybe not, so I should have a contingency plan ..."


I would say, if you want to encourage players to go outside the rules more, particularly in high-stakes areas like combat, don't be ****ing cagey about how it will work. If they propose something, tell them how you're going to resolve it. Let them change their action after hearing that, if they want to. "Find out by doing" is one of those things that sounds better than it works in practice. And in many cases, the character would have logically found out by trying it already if it's an area they have experience in, it just occurred offscreen.