First, on our recent heated discussion... :) I'd much rather have people willing to speak out on what they feel is a valid point, even if they make assumptions, than to have people wait until they have researched their topic and make a stunning statement; only to be totally ignored or unanswered as no one else feels like refuting it. And when someone finally does, it's a month later and no one remembers the first comment. Nah, off-the-cuff remarks and back and forth banter is much better. Honestly. So keep it up! Don't let the others back you down, even if you might be wrong. :) Dissenting points of view help make this list a bit more diverse and interesting! :) Next. I honestly don't see a difference between Simming and RPing. Both actually use rules. Otherwise it fades and dies. I've seen this on the Relic bboard for Homeworld (the computer game, and a very good one at that). The Fiction Board has Boardwar plots popping up frequently. In it, a dozen kids (and most are kids, under 18) constantly one-upping each other with imaginary space fleets and the ability to outdo each other. With the exception of a few who realize that this results in story destruction and thus are willing to stay "shot" and retreat, damaged. In each case, the story fades out after maybe 20 stories. But when they started setting rules and respecting them, then sometimes the stories would start meshing a bit more. No more universe-destroying bombs that cannot be stopped. Stuff like that. Is it a simm? Not really. It's an interactive storyline. Taking an existing story and adding in a few more paragraphs with your own characters. But take that story and start focusing on a set scenario... for instance the Star Trek storylines, and accepting certain conditions... and then you have something different. You have an adventure done, often with minimal supervision. And while a few bad eggs can destroy the story... often the story has the potential to survive and flourish. To me, it's a form of RPing. It's tabletop gaming only without books or dice. And while it might lack some of the randomness of other RPGs... I feel it helps the RPers grow as players. Now on to dice. I know Deb Allen loves going without them. :) But I do see times when the randomness of Dice come in handy. In tonight's adventure, we had a situation where the group had scared off 29 Illithid (brain-eating psychic monsters) after killing their leader and 6 others. And a Eye-Tyrant (Beholder). 11 of the buggers decided to pop in and surprise the group and attack. It didn't work. Most of the people were not surprised. One used a magic-enhancing staff to imprison five of the Illithid (who normally easily resist enchantments) and the others were fought hand-to-hand. The Illithid, having lost surprise, fled. In a game without dice, it is doubtful that the group would have lucked out as much as it did. But I did encounter a half dozen criticals against the Illithid, resulting in the deaths of two Illithid in the round in which they first appeared (surprise did not work). The next round another died immediately, a fourth was hit by a specialty spell designed to kill Illithid (using their resistance to magic against them - you take 4 arrows/bolts and with a spell merge them into one. Then fire the single arrow/bolt at the Illithid - if it hits a magic resistance field, the spell pops and you suddenly have 4 bolts headed at the critter at high speed...). All but one (who was being crushed by a magical tentacle and unable to shift) fled, all of them wounded at least a little. That last died soon after with a sword thrust. Literally, dice helped the group survive. Without the dice, if it was just me, the group would have survived. But most of the group would have been hurt and some might have died. The Illithid would have been much nastier to them by my own whims. Mind you, I can still send the group yelping for cover just by hinting that Goblinkin are in the area (a monster race that is sort of like a combination of Aliens (from the movie), ants and Golems; they're made of stone, and live in a regimented strict caste society. And are nasty in close-fighting. The group has only encountered them five times. Only fought them twice. Each time they won and felt themselves fortunate. The other three times, two were a result of a summoning from the mage's Monster Summoning, and they paid the Goblinkin off after they killed the foes, and the last was an army of about 5,000 Goblinkin which were paid off to go bother a different kingdom with 50,000 gold. :) (Yes, my group bribed an army of Goblinkin to go away. *laughter* That's one way to reduce treasure... hmm, I think it's getting a bit high again. I better do it again.) Anyways. In my opinion, while you shouldn't use dice for every situation, in combat it does help in creating an aura of randomness. And the hack-and-slashers (well, one hack-and-slasher, the wife of my biggest RPer) enjoy using dice. ;) Rob ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
