As much as I rag on D&D for being narrow-minded in scope, it's comprehensive in what it does. The tone of the engine, and the narrative of the mechanics is very decisive: Kill the monsters, loot the chest, level up, and travel to exotic locations (if you're playing 3.5).
So, what about the Escapade Engine? Its mechanics are simple, usable, fun. There's no direction, per se. So, the obvious answer would be that it has no tone or mood. You just are, and you do, but to no particular destination.
Yes, and no.
The EE itself does not have a direction, in terms of rules. It was designed specifically for that reason. But, that's just the engine. The GM is the one in the driver's seat, and he/she/it makes the calls.
Hey, I just decided this now- all GMs will be referred to as "it" now. Take that, sexism.
The GM can make the tone whatever it wants to, in the openness. Gritty, light-hearted, fast, slow, dramatic, comedic, etc. The list goes on. A good GM will be able to narrow the scope through narrative and characterization, not requiring rules for such a thing. It's much easier to get distracted, but there's a larger selection of possibilities.
-Mundane tasks
A few weeks back, the RP group got tired of pizza. Every week gets a little tiring, so we decided to go for something different.
We ended up in a local grocery outlet, and were thinking either chow mein or fried chicken. Then we took fifteen minutes to decide. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. This is a group which, when combined, has done all the following in a timely manner:
- Performed strategic nuclear combat
- Made an ethical choice regarding the fate of a computer controlling the world stock market
- Made several covert dealings in a black market
- Fought off an army of zombies
- Disabled two comatose assassins, set as traps
- There's a lot more. There's much more.
These people, these titans among men, these avatars of a superior human conduct- couldn't decide what they wanted for dinner. It was hysterical to watch them idly stand around, deciding what their stomachs felt like.
It took less time to disable a bio-weapon aimed at the gulf of Mexico, and in the process lose two team members. The juxtaposition was staggering, and it made me think. What did Odysseus have for dinner last night?
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