Re: mechanics of surprise

In article <20070304125740.G55611@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, John Morrow wrote:
> On Sat, 3 Mar 2007, Neelakantan Krishnaswami wrote:
>> These three desires are entirely compatible, if you drop the implicit
>> requirement that mechanics are representational -- ie, that each
>> mechanical bit corresponds directly to some fictional bit. Then it's
>> easy to satisfy these three particular desires.
> 
> I'm curious how you think that's true.  Again, the conditions that Erol 
> specified were:
> 
>> In article <49ofu25erb02q7dgaejtkqjk6s567riqck@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Erol K Bayburt
wrote:
>>> 1. To be able to slay monsters with a single mighty blow, or at least
>>> a small number of attacks, [high Pace of Decision]
> 
>>> 2. To be able to withstand many attacks, or attack attempts by
>>> monsters against them, [low Pace of Decision]
> 
>>> 3. To have the same rules apply to both their PCs and to the
>>> NPCs/monsters.
> 
> Regardless of whether the mechanics are representational or not, if
> you apply condition 3, that the same rules apply to both PCs and
> NPCs/monsters, then how can the Pace of Decision differ between the
> PCs and the NPCs/monsters?  Perhaps an example of what you have in
> mind?

I agree that the mechanical handling time is going to be the same for
the players and the GM, but the pace of the fictional action can
easily be varied. That is, part of the process of play can be setting
the narrative scale and scope of action for the characters -- you
aren't restricted to just one scale.

I'll use a Western game as an example. Here, the genre constraints
might tell us that we should have (in the same game) high-noon
showdowns with a single shot determining the outcome, and wild chase
sequences where lots of shots are fired. The first is the "mighty
blow" situation, and the second is the "lots of attacks" situation.

Now, suppose that we have a pretty typical sort of combat system, with
each player having an attack rating, some damage rating, and some hit
points.  In each scene, we choose an interpretation of the mechanics
so that "taking some damage" means that you lose some fictional
advantage or the opponent gains an advantage, and "running out of hit
points" means that the scene ends with some negative consequence for
the loser.

In the showdown, attacks can be interpreted as staring down the other
guy and rattling his concentration, internal monologues about why
you're determined to win, pretty/handsome schoolteachers looking on
with dread, and so on. When a player's HP hits zero a shot rings out
and their character is dead.[1]

In the chase scene, attacks are fancy horseman****p to gain or lose
distance, and gunshots that injure or spook horses and drive them into
bad terrain, and things like that. When someone's HP reaches zero
they're caught/escape (depending on their goal). Maybe their horse is
shot dead, they fall off the horse, or they take a non-fatal shot and
can't ride anymore without risking fatal blood loss. 

In the first case, a character is killed with a single mighty blow,
and in the second case, lots of attack attempts are made (none of
which are fatal). The same game rules are being used for everybody;
it's just that you apply the rules so as to produce genre-appropriate
results in different kinds of scenes.

Finally, one more thing you can do is use different interpretations
for different characters in the same scene.

If you're running a Frazetta-style post-apocalyptic fantasy, the
warrior princess might interpret damage as bad tactical positioning,
and the evil cyborg sorcerer might interpret damage as minions being
hacked to bits. That way you get the princess fighting off mutant
nasties while standing on a hill made of her victims.  Or if the
sorcerer has an ancient war machine left over from before the Fire
Time, then it might be the princess who interprets damage as her brave
soldiers getting killed, and the sorcerer who interprets damage as
using up ammunition.

[1] As described, this mechanical system would work serviceably but
probably wouldn't do a great job. It really helps if you have a
protocol for each player to signal when they really like the other
player's description and to build off of it.


-- 
Neel R. Krishnaswami
neelk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]