GM Secrecy and Metagaming - Page 3

RyanW · 06-16-2015, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMD

What's your policy on keeping the statistics of monsters secret? What are the pros and cons in your opinion?

One pro is that it gives a simple mechanical benefit for those points spent on Hidden Lore and/or the effort of getting an intact monster corpse home for study.

Skarg · 06-25-2015, 11:00 AM

"What's your policy on keeping the statistics of monsters secret? What are the pros and cons in your opinion?"

I almost always keep all game statistics of things that aren't on a PC record sheet, described only in terms of what the PCs perceive about them.

Reasons:
I think game stats (attributes, damage, skill levels, die rolls, etc) tend to "break the third wall" and move the experience in the direction of game rules and away from the fictional situation the game is about. I want the primary source to be the game world, not the game system. The reason our group converted from The Fantasy Trip to GURPS, was because after several years playing TFT, we couldn't help relating to the game system (which we had mastered) more than the imagined situation (and the limitations in that system), which is particularly disappointing when the rules don't represent the situation well, and where they give advantage to strategies that are gamey and wouldn't really happen that way in that situation.

What I do do instead, is provide information in English descriptions and hints appropriate to the PCs' abilities (and often die rolls). For example, a decent perception roll may tell a fighter watching another what that person's skill levels seem like in comparison to their own. Similarly for what attacks seem to be doing to targets, and how injured other people are. I DO want aware characters to have a good idea what is going on, but I don't want them to relate to it in terms of numbers, let alone to have accurate information what the numbers are.

If they showed a "health bar" during the final fight in the film Rocky, it would (be hilarious and) undermine the tension and wonder about it.

However, I happen to be quite good at doing math in my head quickly, especially GURPS math, since I've done so much of it it's nearly automatic for me. I remember how it was when I was first learning the system, though. If it helps to have other players help with math, and players haven't gotten to the point where that's a threat to the third wall, I'm sure it could work ok to let that information out.

The automatic die-roller page doesn't have damage multiplier and damage resistance, but it'd be quite easy to make a simple computer tool to do damage rolls. One could even have a bunch of shortcut buttons for common cases. Maybe even break it into two buttons, so you click once on the attack and another on the armor to get the result.

06-25-2015, 11:00 AM	#2
Skarg Join Date: May 2015	Re: GM Secrecy and Metagaming "What's your policy on keeping the statistics of monsters secret? What are the pros and cons in your opinion?" I almost always keep all game statistics of things that aren't on a PC record sheet, described only in terms of what the PCs perceive about them. Reasons: I think game stats (attributes, damage, skill levels, die rolls, etc) tend to "break the third wall" and move the experience in the direction of game rules and away from the fictional situation the game is about. I want the primary source to be the game world, not the game system. The reason our group converted from The Fantasy Trip to GURPS, was because after several years playing TFT, we couldn't help relating to the game system (which we had mastered) more than the imagined situation (and the limitations in that system), which is particularly disappointing when the rules don't represent the situation well, and where they give advantage to strategies that are gamey and wouldn't really happen that way in that situation. What I do do instead, is provide information in English descriptions and hints appropriate to the PCs' abilities (and often die rolls). For example, a decent perception roll may tell a fighter watching another what that person's skill levels seem like in comparison to their own. Similarly for what attacks seem to be doing to targets, and how injured other people are. I DO want aware characters to have a good idea what is going on, but I don't want them to relate to it in terms of numbers, let alone to have accurate information what the numbers are. If they showed a "health bar" during the final fight in the film Rocky, it would (be hilarious and) undermine the tension and wonder about it. However, I happen to be quite good at doing math in my head quickly, especially GURPS math, since I've done so much of it it's nearly automatic for me. I remember how it was when I was first learning the system, though. If it helps to have other players help with math, and players haven't gotten to the point where that's a threat to the third wall, I'm sure it could work ok to let that information out. The automatic die-roller page doesn't have damage multiplier and damage resistance, but it'd be quite easy to make a simple computer tool to do damage rolls. One could even have a bunch of shortcut buttons for common cases. Maybe even break it into two buttons, so you click once on the attack and another on the armor to get the result.