thread: 2008-03-01 : Respecting the fiction
On 2008-03-03, Valamir wrote:
"Teasing that out, house ruling, establishing your own procedures at the table for what is leading what—all stuff that comprises a huge chunk of "how we play" and which games click for you and yours."
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I think that's very true.
However, I think leaving it to be teased out, house ruled, and established at the table is a mistake.
I consider it the duty and purpose of the game text to inform the reader how the game is to be played...and lead with fiction / lead with mechanics can often be incompatible and thus lead to really bad experiences without guidance as to which it is.
Players can always decide to do it differently if they want, but they ought to at least be told what the default assumption built into the design is.
