thread: 2005-03-09 : Traditional vs. Commie Roleplaying
On 2005-03-09, Ninja Hunter J wrote:
(Whew. I was reading this whole post as though it were said in a tense whisper.)
JasonN, I think we can assume that asshead formal rules like the ones you just described are out of the picture. Nonetheless, if you had informal rules (as in a gaming group of mine from years ago) that were that assheaded, I'd take the formal rules anyday. There'd be less sleeping-with-your-girlfriend-gives-me-+6-because-it-proves-I'm-bigger kinds of rules.
I think what Vincent is saying is that, without formal rules, the big personality wins. That can be the guy who's always negative about everyone else's ideas, but forwards plausible enough ones himself. It can be the guy who brought the chips. It can be the one you want to sleep with*. Whatever.
With formal rules, all those people are, of course, still playing their games - it's what we monkeys do - but that system matters so much less to the experience, the story, the world you create when the mechanics encourage contribution and everyones' use of those contributions.
*I'm not talking about literally sleeping. It's a euphemism.**
** For sexual intercourse.
