To not stall the game on “considerations” I like to narrate our arguments on whether the tick falls or not.
It’s just a change of form: a ping-pong where each side gives an argument.
This sounds interesting. From your brief description, it reminds me a little of the arguments used in Engle Matrix games (though in those games the arguments over a single action sometimes take half an hour). But I’m not sure if I’m picturing what you mean properly. Would you be able to illustrate how it works with an example from one of your games? I’m curious about what defines a “dynamic” (show don’t tell) argument.
My favorite example is wuxia trading blows. It works even without arguments to put forward.
One describes their character charging at me and lunging
I ripost describing how I sidestep and hit their blade to dislocate their stance.
They counter by accepting the vibration of their blade that starts swirling around them, surprising me and making me step back while their guards surround me.
Now, you can replace “wuxia logic” here with “realistic logic” or “it’s written on my character sheet logic” Like maybe in the example fight I have Dodge and they have Guards. Or maybe it’s more detailed : I need to have Dodge above their Lunge + d20, and they have Guards just because it’s written in their backstory that they are a local nobleman. So you’re right that it’s the same idea as Engle matrix games: we’re just eyeballing stuff because it’s faster and we believe it’s not less accurate (or not by much, or - in fact - more accurate) than the character sheet (+ backstory) model.
Plus, it “gets out of the way”, so we can reallocate the cognitive load of handling stats to social play. In the example : the fast paced dialogue mimicking the relation between our characters IS a storytelling technique by itself (sort of performance play). It can even be (depending on the social contract) reincorporated as a legit “mechanic”: if a player is short of idea, maybe they lose initiative.
I’ve made 3 games (Storm at the desert gate inn, Don’t flail against the world and I’m the witch) to show this type of play, and will make more until I’m fully satisfied I guess.
And thanks to / for your follow up question I wrote down more precisely for my next game the technique I use for fast paced action, something I was cooking since a long time. Thanks!
