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  1. #1
    Member Noquar's Avatar
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    Birthright: Pathfinder: Hidden game mechanics

    Just wanted to share a little experiment I am running involving a Birthright campaign using pathfinder rules and running it while hiding all numerical values from the player characters. I am Instead allowing them to gain insight about the numerical values of there characters with description. The game will be ran just as any other except that the Players will not have all the game mechanics to focus on. There is of course much more to it then that, but It would be a long write up to explain everything. The link below is the the facebook page I am using to organize it and If people are interested I will share the "experiment" especially If they are interested In giving it a try. So far the reception from the players has been mixed with less experienced players relieved to have the burden of game mechanics removed, while more advanced players seem highly skeptical and un-trusting that I wont just rig everything and sabotage them from the get go. My suspicion is they are uncomfortable with the lack of control (perceived) and inability to min/max there PC destiny with feats and maximizing attack rolls. If your interested feel free to ask question or check out the link below. Thanks.

    https://www.facebook.com/events/185354358252539/

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    Member ebatalis's Avatar
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    Dead Link

    Could you please review your link cause it ends up nowhere for me. Thanks
    " The Empire will fall...."

  3. #3
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    Birthright: Giant Downs: Pathfinder: Hidden game mechanics [9#28128]

    At 07:20 PM 5/1/2012, Noquar wrote:

    >Just wanted to share a little experiment I am running involving a
    >Birthright campaign using pathfinder rules and running it while
    >hiding all numerical values from the player characters. I am Instead
    >allowing them to gain insight about the numerical values of there
    >characters with description. The game will be ran just as any other
    >except that the Players will not have all the game mechanics to
    >focus on. There is of course much more to it then that, but It would
    >be a long write up to explain everything. The link below is the the
    >facebook page I am using to organize it and If people are interested
    >I will share the "experiment" especially If they are interested In
    >giving it a try. So far the reception from the players has been
    >mixed with less experienced players relieved to have the burden of
    >game mechanics removed, while more advanced players seem highly
    >skeptical and un-trusting that I wont just rig everything and
    >sabotage them from the get go. My suspicion is they are
    >uncomfortable with the lack of control (perceived) and inability to
    >min/max there PC destiny with feats and maximizing attack rolls. If
    >your interested feel free to ask question or check out the link below. Thanks.

    Sounds interesting. I played in a "hidden" campaign once, though not
    a BR one. It was... different. I think you`re first impression is
    accurate. The people more familiar with RPGs will be hesitant to
    "let go" of their character sheets. Those who aren`t experienced
    RPGamers will have less of a problem. Game mechanics seem to be an
    appeal for some folks, less so for others.

    In another gaming session many moons ago, the GM insisted on rolling
    all the dice himself. We had character sheets and access to the
    books, but he wanted to roll the dice because some rolls could have
    results that the character wouldn`t know about; there could be an
    equipment malfunction, a delayed result, or an exceptional
    success/failure. So, the GM`s logic went, he had to roll the dice
    himself, and we couldn`t see the results. It`s surprising how much
    that took out of the gaming experience for most of the players,
    myself included. Just "sitting there" is tough for gamers. Watching
    a D20 roll around in anticipation of a 17+ is a much bigger part of
    the game than I would have imagined, and part of the game is the
    whole room groaning or cheering when the dice come to rest....

    Let us know how it goes, though. One of the aspects of BR that
    differentiates it from other games is that certain effects probably
    shouldn`t be as obvious to players as they are, but due to the
    effects of levels on D&D we get province levels and holding levels,
    which are expressions of the very abstract concepts of "influence"
    and "control" over a population. We lose something in portraying
    politics in such straight numerical values. If we were able to
    quantify real world politics so simply they`d lose an awful lot of
    their controversy and passion--which might be a good thing come to think of it.

    Gary

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