Author: Stef (---.mindspring.net)
Date: 07-30-2002 11:03
Okay... is the point of this article that we keep score and take it for granted? If so, I think you're making two great big broad generalizations that need to be addressed.
1)We keep score. Yes, some games measure a characters development by xp's. In some settings the accquisition of wealth is a measure of success. But neither of these are universal. If you are playing a game with a plot, there is usually a goal of some form. If there is any universal RPG scorecard it's that, not xps.
While I've never played a game that had no rules for combat, I have played adventures where there was no combat, or where combat was the Wrong Option (tm) (notably and In Nomine game). While combat is a very simple and quite good source of conflict and resolution, it is a means to an end,plotwise. While it may be in character to keep a tally of heads, many games have no built-in benefit to whacking someone. (Cyberpunk 2020, where the only real non-roleplay conflict is combat or netrunning, makes combat very painful and not always profitable)
2)We take this for granted. Many articles have been written on the merits and drawbacks of class-based games. One of the things D&D and many similar games (one's that involve xp) have stirved towards are alternate xp awards (so if you want to play a pacifist, you still can advance). Many games award points for advancement, but as most games have a section on combat, they also have a notable section to the GM to point out what needs to happen for a char to get a brownie point.
"...the game is about increasing your level and gaining more gold (Oh, and Role-Playing too)."
Well, they don't call it a "Level Raising and Gold Accquiring Simulation". It is a role-playing game. I've seen high powered games that failed to be boring by remembering that. I've seen start-from-scratch games that have floundered because it was essientially text based, paper and pen Quake. How important the aquisition of imaginary money and nigh-arbitray understanding pips is really a function of the type of game the GM wants to run and the mindset of the players, not a universal, taken for granted principle in table-top RPG's, unless you've only played on the "My character can take your character" munchin level that most gamers get past around age 14 or so, unless the drop the dice altogether and go to the joystick which is a much more apt setting for such determinations of what has value.
Peace.
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