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The Essentials of RPG Design
simoniker writes "As the latest in his Game Design Essentials series for Gamasutra, writer John Harris examines 10 games from the Western computer RPG (CRPG) tradition and 10 from the Japanese console RPG (JRPG) tradition, to figure out what exactly makes them tick. From the entry on Nethack: 'Gaining experience is supposed to carry the risk of harm and failure. Without that risk, gaining power becomes a foregone conclusion. It has reached the point where the mere act of spending time playing [most RPGs] appears to give players the right to have their characters become more powerful. The obstacles that provide experience become simply an arbitrary wall to scale before more power is granted; this, in a nutshell, is the type of play that has brought us grind, where the journey is simple and boring and the destination is something to be raced to. Nethack and many other roguelikes do feature experience gain, but it doesn't feel like grind. It doesn't because much of the time the player is gaining experience, he is in danger of sudden, catastrophic failure. When you're frequently a heartbeat away from death, it's difficult to become bored.' Harris' Game Design series has previously spanned subjects from mysterious games to open world games, unusual control schemes and difficult games."
Yeah...they do.
DM: You stand before the gates of Yoren.
Gorack the Half-troll: I'm gonna roll to see if I can get hammered drunk at the tavern.
DM: What? fine. Roll to see if you get drunk.
Trantor the Barbarian: I'm gonna attack the gate guards!
DM: Oh for fu....ok, fine. Roll to see your damage.
Gorack: Yes! I'm hammered. I'm gonna feel up the tavern wench! Can I roll to see if I squeeze boob or butt?!?
Spatula the Mage: I'm with Gorack!
DM: *snaps* ROLL IT, THEN MORANS!
Sent from your iPad.
Hence the "nothing at all".
Are you insane? Getting up from the table, that's almost like SPORTS!
(+1, Disagree)
Roll playing, role playing, whatever. I just wanna know if Gorack the Half-troll squeezes boob or butt.
ROLL IT JOHNIE
Sent from your iPad.
Wait till you get to 36. I could barely bring myself to finish reading your post.
(Joking! Joking! Don't hit an old man!)