This sounds like a dumb question.\u00c2\u00a0 I really want to insult myself for thinking to ask it.\u00c2\u00a0 But every so often I’ll make a comment about how RPG characters shouldn’t speak in game rules and I’ll get corrected because of course those characters are familiar with their stats and abilities.<\/p>\n
I try really hard to be accepting of other player styles than my own.\u00c2\u00a0 When I get invited to a game, I don’t try to convert them to my style but I try to find the fun in their style.\u00c2\u00a0 Even if I don’t enjoy it myself, I try to be aware that there are players who do and I may even try to figure out who those players are.<\/p>\n
But I can’t for the life of me figure out who would want to play in a game where the characters know their own stats, levels, and such.<\/p>\n
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Let’s get this out of the way first.\u00c2\u00a0 I agree that there are things on the character sheet that characters are aware of.\u00c2\u00a0 The more specific the rules are, the more the characters should know about them.\u00c2\u00a0 My mage knows he has Magic Missile and Fireball and that the first doesn’t hurt as much as the last.\u00c2\u00a0 My fighter knows he spent extra hours at fighter school learning how that damned Spiked Chain works.\u00c2\u00a0 My rogue knows he can stick you in the vitals more easily if you’re not watching him do it.\u00c2\u00a0 Things that characters do, buttons they can push, have to be known by the characters in some capacity.<\/p>\n
I object to more abstract things.\u00c2\u00a0 Levels.\u00c2\u00a0 Stats.\u00c2\u00a0 The relationships of stats and skills.\u00c2\u00a0 It just doesn’t make sense to me that my character would know this.\u00c2\u00a0 I see them knowing the net result of these things, but I don’t see why a PC would have access to the numbers behind them.<\/p>\n
For example, I can bench 290 lbs.\u00c2\u00a0 I know that I’m stronger than the guy next to me struggling with 135.\u00c2\u00a0 Does that mean I have a higher strength score?\u00c2\u00a0 Probably.\u00c2\u00a0 Is that because of my racial bonus (for whatever the hell race I qualify as)?\u00c2\u00a0 Or because I’m higher level than him?\u00c2\u00a0 Oh maybe our stats are the same, but my powerlifter skill is higher.\u00c2\u00a0 I do just have skills and stats right?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe I took a feat for a skill bonus.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, maybe that Starting Strength book I read was a Manual of Gainful Exercise +1.\u00c2\u00a0 How do I know I’m based on D&D stats and not some other system with Talents, Advantages, and Perks getting in the way?<\/p>\n
Anyway, I can think of a million arguments for why I don’t think games operate in a universe where characters understand game mechanics.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s not what I’m trying to figure out.\u00c2\u00a0 What I want to know, and I’m hoping to get some helpful comments here, is why would you want to play in a game like that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This sounds like a dumb question.\u00c2\u00a0 I really want to insult myself for thinking to ask it.\u00c2\u00a0 But every so often I’ll make a comment about how RPG characters shouldn’t speak in game rules and I’ll get corrected because of course those characters are familiar with their stats and abilities. I try really hard to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gm.sagotsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gm.sagotsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gm.sagotsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gm.sagotsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gm.sagotsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/gm.sagotsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"http:\/\/gm.sagotsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gm.sagotsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gm.sagotsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gm.sagotsky.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}