thread: 2009-04-27 : Dice & Cloud: a Symmetry
On 2009-04-29, Guy Shalev wrote:
Something broke up at the RSS feed from this post to LJ, resulting in the newer post also not transferring.
And I found myself nodding at the opening post. I often discuss this... issue, which is very prevalent in Israel. People say they play a game, such as Werewolf: the Apocalypse, but they're only playing in the world. They boast how much they don't care for the mechanics one whit.
And maybe it resulted in me adopting a bit of a hard stance, regarding "Mechanics are everything", heh, usually espoused sometimes on Story-Games. That advice and such should not supplant mechanics, and if it isn't created by mechanics then it's not part of the game - as striving towards us (disparate groups) playing the "same game".
Now, I think advice is great, and cuts a lot of the time it takes to reach the final goal, but it should help coax what's already there, not bring forth stuff that isn't. How can you say the "game" is about madness when the only thing making the players bring it up is advice, which could be applied to any game (Game here means system, not session)? It also flies IMO in the face of "System does matter", when it's not the system that brings forth the proper theme, or rather, only the Social Contract brings it forth, and then why get any new book?
