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One Canuck built the #ttrpg tag and the #mecha tag. And that was me.

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Partheniad
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This branched off of my "you are playing the game wrong" piece and I decided to expand it into its own bit. I'm sure you have heard someone tell the tale of a night when "they just talked. all roleplay and no dice rolls last session." I personally shudder whenever I hear those stories because it is a failure of the system. I have had some nights where we wound up just doing some big rp scenes that took up the whole session- and while they were good scenes, I consider them failures as a GM. We should always keep in mind that the G in TTRPG stands for Game- we are playing a game with rules. It's what we have chosen to do. We aren't doing structure improv or writing a story together. Not that there's anything wrong with those pastimes, its just not what we are about.

Sometimes this kind of lapse in mechanical play comes about innocently enough. Everyone is caught up in this moment. You have big things happening on screen and people are swept up in it! I have also done big mechanical setpieces like a boss fight that took up a whole session- but I've never seen one where the players neglected to role play during it. They are probably doing this fight because its important for the narrative, they are describing their actions in ways that add to their character, the villain is giving a cackling speech between lightning volleys they get to reply to, etc. Imagine doing a session of a game where you are just rolling and responding numbers back and forth while saying "hit" "mixed success" "take 4 damage" back and forth. Mechanics only is unacceptable- yet people are more willing to accept purely narrative play.

Before I go on I should explain that image up top and, what I consider to be the fundamental nature of TTRPGs. Mechanics and Narrative are interlocking gears- one moves the other. They can be varied sizes, games can have different focuses, but the interaction is the same. When I want to change something in the narrative I saw what I do, the mechanics then determine the outcome and inform the narrative. You change one and the other should also turn. It's unsatisfying if you wind up in a situation where one gear is just spinning freely while the other is static. It is worth noting- not every die roll or mechanical input needs to move the story forward- it just needs to change the current state of the narrative. The state of the board should constantly be changing, even if that is just "Todd has 6 less hp."

I think this failure generally comes about one of two ways. Failure of system or failure of players.

Failure of system is simple enough- you aren't playing the right game for the type of play you are engaging with. If you are playing a game that doesn't provide rules for the social side of play then you are going to be completely unable to mechanically engage with them. This if fine in something like, LANCER, where the creator has been clear that it wasn't the focus on those rules are filling a gap more than providing structure. But if we played a session of LANCER where I am not in a mech fucking shit up I would feel safe arguing that we hadn't actually played LANCER. And this is the point, not every game needs to be all things. But if you are going to be doing a full session only talking and not engaging with your dice, then you aren't playing the game at all.

Failure of players is when you fail the system by forgetting or ignoring rules. And you know what? It happens.

Masks, my beloved

This is the move, Comfort & Support from MASKS: A New Generation, which is still my favorite TTRPG because of moves like this. In PbtA games, if you would trigger a move you have to roll that move. This is important because the trigger for this move is just being supportive or there for someone. We had to write a reminder on a roll20 table to remind us about this move because you wind up doing it all the time naturally in play. It is so much better than having a move for diplomacy because its a natural thing you do in play. The other example of a move like that from MASKS is triggered by Provoking someone. This is what I mean by playing the right game for your group. Because if you are just having a conversations and role-playing and the only moves the game provides are for bartering and persuading NPCs then you are gonna leave the dice alone. But I would put good money that those during those conversations people are provoking and providing comfort for someone.

Player failure is the easier one to address. Write yourself notes- offer the players small rewards if they catch a roll someone else missed before its too late, that sort of thing. After time, you will all know the system well enough. My group was still calling out "roll comfort and support" during touching scenes into our next campaign in another system.

System failure is rough- maybe you are lucky and have a group that is willing to try something different. If so then you can experiment and try different games that fit...

You could also, sigh... house rule something. Look, genuinely, I dislike a lot of big changes to systems because I think you should just meet the game on its level and if you don't like it then you should do something else rather than frankensteining it. Most "house rules" in my games are just decisions we made to fill in a blank space rather than an outright change we made. I could very easily play LANCER and then break out Firebrands everytime we step out of our mechs but then I'm playing half of two games. There are so many games out there, I'm sure you can find something that fits.. and if not- boy do I have great news for you about the possibility of designing your own.

But those are all hard and complex changes, and while I support game design I am not suggesting everyone should design a game for their own table. No, the real change the GM needs to make if players stray too far from the mechanical side of their game is to force the mechanics back in. Create an obstacle they need to overcome. If they are talking, maybe a check is needed to convince someone or a deal needs to be struck.

An aside: Its possible players are talking amongst themselves and you know what... you can let someone make a fucking roll to change your mind. I can remove your agency by rolling to hit you and end your life. You can be adult enough allow for the idea that someone can convince you with the right argument even if that player can't think of it in the moment. If someone rolls to charm you/trick you/change your mind, you can keep the agency by suggesting how they did that. Maybe there's a line of argument you can think of that will get you to step down even if you are still opposed to it. It's a really strange thing where people don't just have a hill to die on, but will apparently die on ANY hill. I have flatout seen players in D&D say "You can't just roll to convince me. You need actually change my mind." I'm sorry Jack, he got a 35 on Diplomacy- that's a good enough argument and he doesn't actually need to debate you. If you are willing to suspend disbelief that the wizard whipped out 6 disparate elements from a pouch to conjure a ball of fire to kill a ghost.. you can do the same about your friend coming up with a cogent argument.

Finally, you can just intrude in on the scene with another scene. The GM can make a move at any time. Have the window shatter as a bullet rips through at the contact you are talking to. Maybe someone is fast enough and dove in front of it... but either way the situation has changed and they are going to start using some different verbs from "converse". If the players really want to keep the conversation going, trust me, they can keep doing it while also in a foot chase with an assassin.

So I guess in the end here's my checklist if narrative has come unstuck from the mechanics:

  1. Are we glossing over moves that should be firing as we play?

  2. Are there obstacles I can introduce to bring friction into this scene?

Those ones are pretty basic and I think will fix the majority of issues. But the harder questions are

  1. Should I intrude on the scene? Bringing in new elements and forcing things to change. This can be exciting but you don't always need a bomb to go off in the airport during a love confession.

If you think the scenes aren't the issue and everyone is engaged but the game isn't providing mechanics...

  1. Should we play something else? Would we get more out of a different system that matches our style of play?

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