thread: 2005-04-25 : Technical Agenda
On 2005-04-29, Ben Lehman wrote:
Hmm...
I think something just clicked for me.
You know how in, to pick a system at random, GURPS, you have to say "My guy shoots at the other guy." I mean, sure, you can say it "I shoot him" but we all know what you mean. If you say "I shoot him, it hits him right between the eyes, his head explodes like an overripe melon, there are brains and chunks of skull flying everywhere like a bad salsa, and it messes up your suit" the game breaks.
In Polaris, it is the opposite. If you say "My guy shoots at the other guy," the game breaks. Whereas "brain chunks like bad salsa" is exactly what the system needs to function. To play the game and not have it snap in half, you have to make statements about your actions in a different way than you normally would.
Is that what Roughshodist versus Preservativist is, Vincent?
yrs—
—Ben
