I hate to break up the little back and forth you guys have going here, but I'm afraid I have to disagree with the underlying premise.
"all games need to answer three questions: (a)What, (b)How, and (c)Why."
Well, maybe not disagree completely. But I think the game needs to answer these question at the end rather than at the beginning. It certainly can answer them at the beginning; most games do. But I think part of the magic of the BE game we're in now is that we have the chance to develop our own how and why in game as we go along. It's certainly not going to just happen; it's something we'll have to work towards. But I'd much, much rather play through it than just skip ahead to the usurpation and somehow now we're best buds.
As mentioned above, How is not a specific plan, it's a general idea. Not having a How ends up meaning that players tend to not care about each others scenes aside from a passive, TV-esque enjoyment of good roleplaying
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I agree that it would suck if we picked a means that only one or a few people are good at. But I think that's a compelling reason for why a "How" as you put it is not only unnecessary, but undesireable. In D&D, I don't stop caring about the traps just because I'm not a rogue. In L5R, I don't zone out on the duels just because my character isn't a duelist.
Which is not to say that your essential point, about a "how" being important, isn't valid. I'm just trying to get to the root of what I'm going to start calling "gaming agoraphobia", and why you and Sean feel it keenly, while I'm not really feeling it.
Starting to read Faith Conquers and I totally know what I feel is missing. STRONG Vaylen-side opposition. I'm not talking about worms, they are just something we're paranoid about in this phase. I'm talking about fucking Octavia blowing up Misha's precinct and killing two of her Kerrn in a manner that says "screw you Proxeria, I'm running the show now!"
Or Kesling finding out the rebel line actually DO have a legitimate claim to the throne and then ordering us ALL to murder every last one of them. I'm talking about shit that would shake our characters up and make them say "oh fuck, I may not like this guy, but I've got to work with him."
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Heh, heh, heh. Yer a girl
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"all games need to answer three questions: (a)What, (b)How, and (c)Why."
Well, maybe not disagree completely. But I think the game needs to answer these question at the end rather than at the beginning. It certainly can answer them at the beginning; most games do. But I think part of the magic of the BE game we're in now is that we have the chance to develop our own how and why in game as we go along. It's certainly not going to just happen; it's something we'll have to work towards. But I'd much, much rather play through it than just skip ahead to the usurpation and somehow now we're best buds.
Reply
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Which is not to say that your essential point, about a "how" being important, isn't valid. I'm just trying to get to the root of what I'm going to start calling "gaming agoraphobia", and why you and Sean feel it keenly, while I'm not really feeling it.
Reply
Reply
Or Kesling finding out the rebel line actually DO have a legitimate claim to the throne and then ordering us ALL to murder every last one of them. I'm talking about shit that would shake our characters up and make them say "oh fuck, I may not like this guy, but I've got to work with him."
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