[D&D 4.0] System Doesn't Matter

[zakarntson]

Here's a quote from the latest D&D Design & Development article (registration required):
Sure, a DM can decide for dramatic reasons that a notable NPC or monster might linger on after being defeated. Maybe a dying enemy survives to deliver a final warning or curse before expiring, or at the end of a fight the PCs discover a bloody trail leading

Comments

[greyorm]

That's cool, and I can understand that, but I don't think I'd ever be comfortable playing a tabletop RPG that way again.

I say that for two reasons: 1) it's not my style and 2) too many bad experiences to the contrary. For me, the issue is, "Why rules unless they work? Why play a game unless you play the game?"

If it's a storytelling game and the rules don't allow for a good story to naturally and organically arise from their use, then the game is broken. Why are we playing a broken game instead of a functioning game?

As well, I'm not a passive player, either. If I want to be told a story, I'll watch a movie/television or read a book or even play a video game. If I want to collaboratively make a story or freely explore a world or even test my game-fu against other people, I'll play an RPG (or a board game in the case of the latter).

There's a difference for me between the activities: I'm not sure I'd want to listen to someone tell a story unless, you know, I'm listening to someone tell a story.

That is, why go through the effort of playing when it doesn't matter anyways? The GM could just say, "And then Graxfar kills the evil wizard, but he escapes with his magic spell," instead of rolling a lot of dice for no real reason for the same effect. I don't see the point in pretending to help tell a story -- rather, what is so attractive about pretending to help instead of actually helping.

That would be, to me, like watching a TV show and pausing during the climatic scenes to roll some dice, then resuming and either going "Yes, we won!" or "Let's throw that roll out and say this happens." depending.

Ok, I'm really going on about this, so I'll leave it there and hope all those various points cohere to make some sense to you about my why. Honestly, whatever works for a group and they're having fun with is fine.