Friday, March 29, 2019

Discussion - Mechanics or Story?

On Wendesday we talked a bit about God Tier GMing vs. Storytelling and how a GMs responsibilities and a Storyteller's responsibilities are different. Today I'm curious if when it comes to your game do you like to focus more on the mechanics of the game, and making it a fun game through the mechanical actions of playing the game - i.e. combat, monsters, encounters, etc. Or do you prefer to try and make it a fun game through the story being told, exploration of the characters, and such.

Obviously most, if not all games have both. Human beings are natural story tellers, and we make stories about everything. At the same time, we need some mechanical aspects or it's not an RPG so much as a group of people doing improv practice or group writing a story (not that there's anything wrong with either.)

But which do you gravitate towards? Do you focus on mechanical execution and leave the story to other things? Say a book bought campaign or adventure? Or do you like to weave your own narrative, and maybe the mechanics take a back seat to that?

Personally I tend to focus on story, though I am trying to work on mechanical execution for things to try and make those bits fun too and more than just "both sides hack each other until one falls down."

How about you?

No comments:

Post a Comment