Forum Overview :: Rants :: Re: 3rd edition rules?

[quote name="Fullofkittens"][quote name="laudablepuss"][quote name="Fullofkittens"]Alright, that was a rhetorical question, but I'll answer it anyway: the PnP game is an elaborate system of rules and regulations to make it possible for people to create their own adventures and then play them with an element of chance involved.[/quote] The only reason a non-idiot would write something this obvious is if he was enumerating the givens from which his conclusion logically follows. An idiot has no point and just spouts nonsense. Let's find out which one you are! [quote]The only reason that the rules are important is insofar as you wouldn't be able to play the game without them.[/quote] Wow. The conclusion must be really simple if it was necessary to say something this obvious.[/quote] Yes, it is really simple. For some reason I feel like I need to address you like a little kid. I wonder why that is. [quote][quote]In the case of a video game, the adventure is already there, you don't have to make it up.[/quote] Please explain how this sentence makes even the smallest bit of sense, especially given the preceding two. This statement was so amazingly retarded, I couldn't imagine how it could be anything but a mistake. So I threw it back at you, hoping for some kind of retraction or miraculous modification. But you left it alone, so I guess you meant it.[/quote] Well, I could phrase it better. How's this: "You don't need to create the storyline on your own. The game company has taken this step for you." [quote][quote]And you don't have to know the numbers involved to fight your precious dark elves, either. I would argue that a game that doesn't tell you that your current Armor Class is 2 (but you can get down to AC0 with magic gauntlets!) is *better* than a game that throws that bullshit in your face. It's just a system to make sure that the game is being played fairly in dreamland when you're playing the PnP game... but when you're playing a video game that shit belongs behind the scenes.[/quote] You're all over the map now. First: Baldur's Gate and NWN don't necessarily give you the results of your die roll, you can set it so that this information is hidden from you. Second, as has been pointed out, there HAS to be some way to differentiate a good weapon from a better one or else you're just blindly stumbling along. Trying to guess the difference between a +1 sword and a +2 sword just from watching your guy's hits and misses is impossible.[/quote] What I'm arguing is not that you should be able to tell one sword's stats from another without knowing whether it's a +1 or +2. What I'm trying to say (and I think I *have* said it, you're being willfully ignorant here) is that paying attention to the numbers involved is counter-immersive. The last RPG I've played on a PC was, lessee... Ultima IV, in 1988 (though some of the games I've played have had RPG elements), so maybe BG and NWN have already solved this problem for me and I didn't know, in which case I'm happy, I'll get them and turn the numbers off. I suspect that you're talking about something else, though. As far as "blindly stumbling along" is concerned - what's wrong with that? Again, this is me trying to speak RPG-fag with my non-native accent, but isn't magic supposed to be mysterious? What's cooler: picking up a magic sword, seeing that it's +3, which is better than your +2, and keeping it, or picking up a sword that may or may not be better than the one you have, and finding out in battle? Maybe you can find out because it shoots flames or some shit, I don't know. Maybe one sword could look obviously more powerful. What I'm saying is that there are better ways to convey this information than via number-crunching, which is counter-immersive. I'm not interested in playing Fantasy Accountant. [quote][quote]That's why I think it's bizarre that someone would care if the rules are being "fully implemented": the rules of the game you're playing HAVE been fully implemented. Why would you want to shoehorn rules in from a game in another format that doesn't really have a video-game analogy? Dragon breathes fire: you could roll a saving throw, or you could, I don't know, DODGE IT. The concepts don't seem to fit together, to me. FoK[/quote] So now we're back to trivially obvious facts: of course the game's rules have been fully implemented, otherwise the game wouldn't be finished! Then once again you flip around back to complete nonsense. If they didn't want to "shoehorn" the D&D rules into a computer game, dare I ask again why they decided to call it a D&D game? Also, I disagree entirely that the PnP and computer game formats are totally dissimillar. If anything, you've shown that all games are fundamentally alike. By the way, a saving throw is the way you dodge a dragon's breath. They're the <i>same thing.</i> Now you know.[/quote] Yes, I know, dipshit. This is what makes me think you're completely missing my point: in the PnP game, you roll a saving throw, if you get the right number than you've dodged the dragon breath (MY GOD I FEEL LIKE SUCH A FAG TYPING THIS, BTW). In a video game, you don't need a saving throw because you <b>dodge the thing with your mouse and keyboard. </b> There's no need for chance, or modifiers to chance, to be involved at all. The thing will hit you unless you dodge it. There is no need for dice, so there is no need for the modifiers to dice-rolling. How can I make this more clear? Repeated for the nth time: VIDEO GAMES DON'T USE DICE. YOU DON'T NEED TO MODIFY THE TARGETS FOR DICE ROLLING. Chance may be involved, (since I understand that RPG games don't generally use human reflexes in combat), but you don't have to read the table yourself so you don't need the numbers. D&D, as far as I'm concerned, can lend its name to a video game effectively, by including character classes, spells, game worlds, and all that other happy horsehit. Are you attracted to the game for its setting, or for the tables in the Dungeonmaster's Guide? FoK[/quote]