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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 9331782" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>Pardon my trimming down your quote - I needed to focus on the key parts.</p><p></p><p>1. There are multiple shortcuts that have worked for me and players I run for – not perfectly, but they've definitely accelerated the process of inspiring improvisation and wild ideas:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Showcasing NPCs and monsters taking creative actions (e.g. "The goblin appears to be holding a soldier's helmet upside down and stirring a wooden spoon like it's making soup... there is a strange smell of saltpeter in the air.")</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Asking "How do you want to do XYZ? (e.g. How are you convincing the duke to let you cross through his lands without a duchy escort?)"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Be leading with descriptions – it should feel to you like you're leading the players a bit by the nose at first, but for newer players / players newer to improv play, IT WILL NOT feel like being led by the nose TO THEM. (e.g. "Everything is away in flickering light from the elk horn candelabra hanging above the court. Though you notice" -pausing to look explicitly toward the dagger-throwing rogue player- "it is held aloft by a single black braided rope wrapped around a wall-mounted cleat by the fireplace.")</li> </ul><p>2. Yes, there are alternative ways of implementing skills & equipment. IMO some of the alternative skill approaches are worth a look for what I <em>think</em> you're aiming for. However, alternative equipment approaches tend to be reductionist and mechanistic – e.g. a card for 'Basinet Helm: sacrifice when critically hit by a weapon to reduce it to a regular hit' or a 'Brass Key (quest item): opens the door to Pendligor's Study.'</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">AD&D's non-weapon proficiencies are much more in-depth skills and not as abstracted. "Fire-making" instead of "Survival", for example. Sometimes the concrete-ness and focus of non-weapon proficiencies can help a player with visualizing the narrative and with creative improvisation. However, IF you have players - like you say - who can't dream of what they might do with a hammer besides whack a nail? I think that might be a deeper issue that this won't solve.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Similarly 4e has a skill power system which is a promising idea... you get explicit special abilities tied to your proficient skills. Of course, the problem with these is that they're incredibly mechanistic, focused on combat, and often fall into the abstraction trap like much of 4e's design.</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 9331782, member: 20323"] Pardon my trimming down your quote - I needed to focus on the key parts. 1. There are multiple shortcuts that have worked for me and players I run for – not perfectly, but they've definitely accelerated the process of inspiring improvisation and wild ideas: [LIST] [*]Showcasing NPCs and monsters taking creative actions (e.g. "The goblin appears to be holding a soldier's helmet upside down and stirring a wooden spoon like it's making soup... there is a strange smell of saltpeter in the air.") [*]Asking "How do you want to do XYZ? (e.g. How are you convincing the duke to let you cross through his lands without a duchy escort?)" [*]Be leading with descriptions – it should feel to you like you're leading the players a bit by the nose at first, but for newer players / players newer to improv play, IT WILL NOT feel like being led by the nose TO THEM. (e.g. "Everything is away in flickering light from the elk horn candelabra hanging above the court. Though you notice" -pausing to look explicitly toward the dagger-throwing rogue player- "it is held aloft by a single black braided rope wrapped around a wall-mounted cleat by the fireplace.") [/LIST] 2. Yes, there are alternative ways of implementing skills & equipment. IMO some of the alternative skill approaches are worth a look for what I [I]think[/I] you're aiming for. However, alternative equipment approaches tend to be reductionist and mechanistic – e.g. a card for 'Basinet Helm: sacrifice when critically hit by a weapon to reduce it to a regular hit' or a 'Brass Key (quest item): opens the door to Pendligor's Study.' [LIST] [*]AD&D's non-weapon proficiencies are much more in-depth skills and not as abstracted. "Fire-making" instead of "Survival", for example. Sometimes the concrete-ness and focus of non-weapon proficiencies can help a player with visualizing the narrative and with creative improvisation. However, IF you have players - like you say - who can't dream of what they might do with a hammer besides whack a nail? I think that might be a deeper issue that this won't solve. [*]Similarly 4e has a skill power system which is a promising idea... you get explicit special abilities tied to your proficient skills. Of course, the problem with these is that they're incredibly mechanistic, focused on combat, and often fall into the abstraction trap like much of 4e's design. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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