Post originally by Rob Farquhar (IMAGinES) at 2005-01-11 14:41:43
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Hi again, Metallian,

The Metallian wrote:
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"One gripe I have about some RPGs is that they recommend play styles in their descriptive text, but don’t encourage them in their rules. Feng Shui is guilty of this..."

I don't think it tells the whole story. Here's a condensed version of Feng Shui's approach to stunts:

- If a combat stunt does not do any extra damage, it is not penalized...
- If a combat stunt has an extra damage effect (the benchmark for this is "hit two guys with one attack") it is indeed penalized. However, I think that this is just common sense to prevent arbitrarily effective attacks.
- Spellcasting difficulty modifiers are actually REDUCED when the effect is "especially entertaining" and again if it is "obvious and flashy."
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I think you've addressed original gripe as written well and fairly. I think, though, I just didn't express myself as clearly as I otherwise could, mainly because if I had, it could well have become an entire column in and of itself, and I was trying to keep the word count down.

Ever since reading RPGs like octaNe, I've fallen in love with the idea (as game master) of immediately rewarding a player if he or she does something that furthers enjoyment of the game, whether moving the plot along, doing something phenomenally in character/in theme with the game or just wowing the table. I especially like the idea when the reward is something the player can use at his or her leisure, instead of just going toward an eventual level-up (that way it's more immediate impact to the player).

The independent, action-movie-oriented RPGs Wushu and octaNe pull this off in different ways, Wushu by giving the player an extra die toward their roll for every "colour" embellishment they add, octaNe by giving out Plot Points if a player wins a roll and uses the resultant narrative control to move the plot along (as well as bonuses for in-mood fun stuff/wackiness).

Paranoia XP's Perversity Points nail that concept in a very Paranoia way, by encouraging in-mood fun stuff/wackiness with opportunities to affect the mechanics in a way that encourages more Paranoia, i.e. backstabbing and betraying your friends. The style of Paranoia XP and octaNe sessions also encourage burning through said points, so hoarding is unlikely.

Per your own description, Feng Shui blithely encourages wild stunts and jazzing up the action, but its rules shrug their shoulders and say "meh" unless you're either a spellcaster (in which case you get a reward) or otherwise looking for an advantage (in which case they penalise you). You can't even give out XP, as Feng Shui is designed to be a very low-advancement game unless you start capturing feng shui sites.

On the other hand, it can be argued that if players need to be encouraged with rules-based rewards instead of the sheer pleasure / challenge of playing, why aren't they doing something else more to their tastes instead?

Ultimately, I suppose it's an issue of personal taste, and I guess I'm being pretty aggressive about mine. But at least it's an up-front bias that I've tried to explain in the text of the review, albeit briefly.