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Old 09-27-2018, 11:44 AM   #1
ecz
 
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Default A meta-question about Questions&Answers

Probably it's just my fault and I have missed something important but more often than not I feel that genuine, smart, sincere, and intelligent questions about "game mechanics and rules" are not answered by anyone having a role here about the re-birth and the new development of TFT 2

I'm not speaking about the game philosophy or about clear rules that someone dislikes the way they are. These are not Q&A in the sense I mean and I can undestand if they stay officially unanswered. For these a candid discussion here on the forum among players is ok although the opinion of the makers could be nice to hear.

I'm speaking about rules that are not "fully clear" and where a word from the designer, or the publisher, or anyone that is in charge, could easily explain once for ever or at least until the next official change casting a few more words here in the forum.

IF in the manual the rules brevity is golden, here in the forum a full exposition cannot harm and it's free.

Lacking this figure for our favorite RPG, any question about rules is only answered by other willing players (thanks), according their personal understanding. And sometime - when it appears that a rule is not exactly perfect - according their personal opinion.

The net result is that when someone asks something about a rule really obscure, or open to several interpretations, he is overwhelmed by tons of different answers by other forumites and the thread soon becomes a debate while the original post remains officially unanswered.

Nowadays all boardgames, all wargames, all RPGs, all designs live on the net, all the best company/designers out there try to support in any way their customers in real time, and one of the easiest and cheapiest way is to "officially answer" the questions about rules on their forum (if any) and/or on BGG and/or CSW if they do not have a own place.

So, in a few words:

- is there someone put in charge to officially answer the question about rules?
- if not today, is this a figure that we'll see in a future?
- if not today and not tomorrow, why not?

If the above meta- question has been answered before, I'm sorry. Please consider that it's hard read everything when a forum is so rich and big.
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Last edited by ecz; 09-27-2018 at 12:01 PM.
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Old 09-27-2018, 01:06 PM   #2
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Default Re: A meta-question about Questions&Answers

Yeah, another RPG game forum I often visit has a dedicated "Official Answers on Core Rules" sub forum (as well as one for questions on setting based on their core rules.) There one designer answers all questions and his answers are gospel.

Of course, that's a smaller company than SJG. And I imagine the same is true for the other companies you allude to. Or, if not smaller, at least more focused on the particular product that they're answering questions on.

I don't know if Steve himself would have time to dedicate to such a forum for TFT. (Not to mention GURPS, which would be a huge effort in itself, as well as the myriad other products SJG produces.) Not sure if there's another "resident expert" on TFT at SJG who could handle the role, at least not yet.

Not saying I wouldn't like such a forum, but that I wouldn't be surprise if it wasn't practical to do.
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Old 09-27-2018, 01:38 PM   #3
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Default Re: A meta-question about Questions&Answers

The GURPS line editor Kromm does that for GURPS, though there's no one thread for them AFAIK.
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Old 09-27-2018, 07:24 PM   #4
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Default Re: A meta-question about Questions&Answers

Seems to me that this would be Guy McLimore's role as the line editor. Perhaps in consultation with Steve, but generally his responsibility. Not sure why such an authoritative thread has not been created as yet.
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Old 09-27-2018, 07:27 PM   #5
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Default Re: A meta-question about Questions&Answers

Maybe because the new rules haven't even been sent to the printer yet?
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Old 09-27-2018, 07:38 PM   #6
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Default Re: A meta-question about Questions&Answers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skarg View Post
Maybe because the new rules haven't even been sent to the printer yet?
I expect once the rules are solidified there will be more answers.
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Old 09-28-2018, 04:44 AM   #7
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Default Re: A meta-question about Questions&Answers

Eventually, this may indeed become my role in consultation with Steve. At this point, though, the rules have been in a state of change, with much of that happening out of my view until approximately the time you see the changes.

Steve has kept me in the loop and actually consulted me on many points (a somewhat humbling experience, given that the system is so very personal for him) but he is acutely aware (as am I) that this is only opportunity to do the tweaking, tuning and rethinking he’s wanted to do for a lot of years. He wants to get it right because, once it is in print and shipped, it goes from being his system to being your system.

When ITL is in hard copy, our job will be not so much to interpret the rules as to facilitate their use. Until now, it’s been to rethink the rules. Some of that interpretation should be and will be left to the individual GM, which is in keeping with the basic philosophical differences between GURPS and TFT. Only Steve can tell you his intent, but as TFT goes from discussion to firm reality that will be less important.

I don’t ever want TFT to become too rigid, to the point of telling someone “you are playing that wrong”. I remember a time when Gary Gygax tried to hold D&D in the palm of his hand like that, before realizing that his role as arbiter ended where the DM’s imagination began. He finally realized that was never going to work with D&D, and both he and the D&D community benefitted from that decision.

As for me, I expect to spend less time being “the authority” and more time helping you share with each other your own answers. That’s in keeping with what TFT is and what it will become. GURPS is a dynamic but intentionally firm all-encompassing ruleset produced and continually expanded by the community. TFT is a more minimal framework on which to hang your own “skin”. In some ways, I think that’s been the most misunderstood concept during the public portion of this process.
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Old 09-28-2018, 04:46 AM   #8
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Default Re: A meta-question about Questions&Answers

Quote:
Originally Posted by guymc View Post
I don’t ever want TFT to become too rigid, to the point of telling someone “you are playing that wrong”.
Seconded, and I'll add:

I don't ever want to see The Fantasy Trip become a mass of rules, exceptions, and unnecessary details. I want to see the game remain a toolkit for GMs and players to have fun, not see it reach a point where there are rules for every tiny little eventuality and possibility in the campaign.
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Old 09-28-2018, 03:57 PM   #9
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Default Re: A meta-question about Questions&Answers

thanks for answering my question.

so the answer looks like something like this :

not today, because the final set of rules is still in preparation
but tomorrow when they are solidified. guymc is your "resident expert" man at SJG for TFT.


very good. exactly what I dreamed to hear.

as a side note, please note that I DO NOT want change TFT in a mass of rigid rules full of unnecessary details. And I dare to say that no player here has this intent. Personally I use a several house rules exactly because I agree with philreed: the manual is a toolkit to permit the GM to build the best world possible for him and his players.

At the same time I think in some (not secondary) parts rules have ambiguities or need a serious clarification (see for example the paradigmatic thread about the time when dodge/defend is committed), that is where the resident expert - yes I love this definition! - should intervene in the dedicated "offical" thread gathering Q&A in the classical format.

Not a thread to add cases and new rules forgotten in the manual, but a thread to subtract doubts and avoid errors.

In other words an intervention aimed to permit players to play by the rules and/or make an informed choice when they eventually decide to move to a house rule
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