As you say it could be a difference in playstyle, it just seems a bit shallow to me, a waste of a decent game system. With Heroquest you can mechanically represent dramatically apt social conflicts and, more importantly, the results. All those opportunities for accumulating nice consequences of victory going unused, it's making me tearful.
Go on, be a narrativist power gamer, even D&D has decent rules for social conflicts these days. Admittedly Gary Gygax is probably spinning so fast in his grave he's half way to the Earth's core by now.
The serious point here is that constraints on what players do with their characters socially aren't necessarily restrictions, they're more ways of focussing the options available. So I can play way smarter and more eloquent character than I am in real life and not have to try to be Oscar Wilde [mainly 'cause I end up sounding like a second rate Noel Coward]. If I win a round of a conflict and can't think of a witty thing to say I can ask other people around the table for help and they'll chuck their ideas in to help my character fit my concept better. And that's the cool thing for me, other people exploring characters I'm playing and making them stronger for it.
Cheers,
Ash
> From: Nikodemus Siivola <nikodemus_at_...>
> Subject: Re: Re: Contest Questions
> To: HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com
> Date: Thursday, 8 October, 2009, 8:41 AM
> 2009/10/7 Ashley Munday <aescleal_at_...>:
>
> > You seem to be saying that it's okay for one player's
> character to do something to
> > another that results in physical consequences (i.e.
> mug him) but not do something that
> > results in social consequences (i.e. intimidate the
> cash out of him)?
> ...
> > they apply them to conflicts. If you're playing in a
> game which relies on player
> > characters conflicting with each other you're going to
> have situations where things
> > happen to your character that might seem detrimental
> at the time.
>
> I maintain that this is strictly a question of play style.
> We can act
> out the social situation to a reasonable degree of
> fidelity, so there
> is less need for abstraction and mechanics. Freely acting
> out the
> social conflicts is one of THE things we want out of the
> game.
>
> Things that seem (are!) detrimental happen to people.
> Sometimes they
> give, sometimes they escalate, sometimes they just remain
> stubborn.
> It's all good, because the other party can react to that,
> freely. :)
>
> Not everybody wants to play this way, and that's cool. I
> like it, though.
>
> Cheers,
>
> -- Nikodemus
>
>
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