thread: 2012-06-11 : Ask a Frequent Question
On 2012-06-18, Christoph wrote:
Hi Vincent, thanks for opening up this Q&A
Since this is the end of your Forge-era theorizing, I have to place a question about conflict vs. task resolution. This was big news to me when I started playing the Pool back in 2005.
Now you get games like Murderous Ghosts, S/lay w/me, Hot guys making out and I can't wrap my head around what their resolution mechanic are supposed to be: certainly not task, but they're a far shot from classical conflict resolution methods like Sorcerer, The Shadow of Yesterday and even Dogs in the Vineyard. It's as if the whole session-level structure is mixed into the resolution mechanics.
Apocalypse World or Poison'd also look like they went a step back towards task resolution, but of course they didn't really, or nowhere near to what used to get up people's noses.
Also, Bliss Stage doesn't have rules for social conflict resolution, yet it works really smoothly just by acknowledging (verbally and mechanically) that someone let off their steam (for example).
You've been saying that one of the interesting ideas to keep about IIEE is that we need to know what we've got to establish up to the point where the mechanics hit in, and what's up to the mechanics to define after.
Does it all boil down to "A game's rules coordinate what's happening in the real world with what's happening in the game world." and resolution mechanics are just one (non-mandatory in it's conflict/task form) aspect of it or do you have some wicked insights about post-conflict/task resolution?
