thread: 2010-03-01 : Reliable vs Unreliable Currency
On 2010-04-26, Jeff Russell wrote:
Callan,
I think your core point about the state of the character is no more real than Harvey is a good point, in that they're both imaginary. Obviously the character is not physically anywhere, there's no parallel universe we're tapping into with our minds.
That being said, a collaborative imagined situation is a little different from an individual one. If I imagine my character is on a higher position by myself, I can change that whenever I want. If, however, I've described what my character's doing to some other people, and they're digging on it and imagining it too, if I suddenly edit it, with no regard for what they're imagining, we'll get some issues. And maybe it'll shake down to Harvey telling the GM yes or no on my character being where I say he is.
But I think the point of the rule here (correct me if I'm wrong) is not to reward an imaginary character for "really" taking advantage of high ground. The point is to encourage players to a) pay attention to what their character is doing, and b) describe it well enough that the other players buy into it. If you take the time and care to make it absolutely clear to everyone that your character has taken the high position, no one's gonna blink about the +2, and if the GM tries to say "no you don't" everyone will be like "What are you talking about? He totally convinced us, it makes sense".
And I think it's that B) up there that is really important, and what ends up differentiating this rule from Harvey giving the nod. Sure, if the players don't take this rule seriously, it's Harveytown. But if all the players treat that as a real, valid rule, they'll be encouraged to address their character's imaginary actions and interactions with the surroundings in a meaningful way. They have a concrete incentive to grab everybody's buy in, and even to accept their input ("Hey, weren't you at the top of the stairs?" "Oh yeah, that's right, can I get a +2 for that?").
And that's why I think this rule is better than, say "The GM can give a +2 for good roleplaying" or something vague like that. Cos that's where Harvey lives for real.
