Playing to the system

Overly Processing Play With The Rules

I found (re-found?) Play Passionately recently and it was good to read through. I agree with a lot of what he has to say, but not some of the linked article above. He starts in the right place I think, saying that we should not be playing to what we think the rules want us to do. In practice, I think we are going to be playing how a system wants us to, because that's why we're using that system. It's designed for the kind of game we want to play. That's all well and good. However, when we go past this and start trying to suss out what kind of play we think the system wants and then play that way because the system wants it, we're thinking too much. This is where I agree with him.

He then goes on to suggest that we consider the fiction first. In a broad sense this is true; the game is all about the fiction and everything is in terms of the fiction. However, I read him to mean that we should determine, for instance, character actions at the fictional level and then apply the system. This is wrong and not playing the game (it also goes against everything I said about how players will power-game, but I can be hyperbolical). What we should do is to determine our goal in the fiction, the end result not the actions necessary to get there. Then, we look to the system to help inform us how to accomplish our goal. It won't necessarily be the only deciding factor, but it is definitely one. The system tells us what we can and cannot do, and what is more likely to work. It tells us how to achieve our goals. Through this, the system will shape the game to give the kind of play it was designed for. But I agree, if you do hollow things like 'oh, I'm playing cyberpunk, so I guess I'd better fight the evil corporations' then play will be flat.

For example, let's look at Dogs in the Vineyard. I had a character whose stats were such that if I start just talking and escalate to gun fighting then I have more dice than my opponent. Furthermore, if I escalate to physical or physical violence than I can at best break even, in terms of what dice I roll, with my opponent. Now, part of this is how I made my character and part is the system. But looking at this, I see that I'm best off to start talking and escalate straight to gun fighting. I could pick other things, but I think it will always come back to me only wanting to escalate to include two arenas. The system is telling me that characters really don't want to do all four, but to stick to where they are best. The system doesn't change what I want, just how I try to get it.

This allows the system to shape the game in a productive way. We naturally get the kind of game we came to play. Look at D&D, a game about killing monsters and taking their stuff. What if you want some NPC to leave your sister alone? You can try to convince him, maybe you get a Charisma check or a Diplomacy roll or something, but that's one roll. If it goes badly the system doesn't give you much recourse in the persuading route. Well, you could attack him. If you miss you can always try again, and you're an adventurer have a number of hit points so you probably won't die soon. Beating him up or even killing him isn't too hard. D&D games are about violence and the system reinforces it. If you play only to the fiction, then you try to convince him, which the system doesn't really support, fail and then have no real recourse.

To not acknowledge the system in decisions is to not play the game, at which point I ask why use the system? You could say that you like the outcomes that it gives, but you aren't gaming the system to get what you want, indicating an ambivalence about the outcome, maybe you aren't invested in the game. Not acknowledging the system means you don't care about playing a game. So don't. Don't play a game. I'm serious. Gamist parts of a system are only useful if you actually want to use them, otherwise they'll only get in the way. Use a purely Narrativist system with no Gamist elements at all. Play Otherkind Dice. This is all just system matters stuff really.