Recent content by TwoSix

So basically, there's no reason to keep a numerical descriptor over just using free text, if the numbers aren't actually driving anything. "Herculean stevedore" paints a lot more of a picture than "Str 17".

"It's a fantasy world, Steve! You can't just name your character Tom! It breaks my verisimilitude!"

I liked that guy. Really focused on the dramatic stuff. Not much for combat or exploration, though.

So true. His original plans was to keep the setting to Tolkien races only. Never let your players buy the "Metaphors for Moral English Character" sourcebooks is the lesson here.

I would point out Dostoevsky also never used Tortles. Good company.

There are other emotions?

The obvious argument here then, is if the stats have such a limited impact that the difference between high and low isn’t noticeable at the table, why are we maintaining them in the first place? Freeform text descriptors of our characters would seem to do a better job of differentiating...

To be fair, @Pedantic is an excellent poster but also has very specific preferences. I wouldn't view their post as representative of the broader coalition of setting-first GMs.

Well, I'm contrasting them with us, who are probably "overinvested" players. :) Agreed. I enjoy marrative type games, but I feel they tend to fall down in two situations. One, your active and interested players are outnumbered by passive players. Two, your group is simply too large to allow...

I definitely think there's a portion of the "casual" player base that is generally passive. They show up at the table, chime in with actions on their turn during combat, and volunteer some ideas during non-combat play. But they have no interest in doing anything to drive play forward. They...

I mean, I don’t think the level of improv and active thinking needed for a “standard” narrative-type play is much more difficult than a Jackbox game requiring the players to type in phrases.

I mean, they aren’t gnomes.

Only laughing at your first sentence, BTW. Yea, I do think that's an irreconciable difference. I certainly understand the attraction to designing world concepts and then examining their interactions in a simulated environment; that's why there are so many popular video games that do just that...

Probably not. They used the word "cosy" in the marketing, which is a genre flag for being fairly PG/PG-13. Contrast with "spicy", which is the more graphic books.

For sure. As I said towards the beginning of this thread, player empowerment goes along with player responsibility. The more I dictate as a player about what's included in the game, the more responsibility I have to make sure the game is functioning smoothly.