On the advise of a good friend and long-time gamer, Jeff Kahrs, I borrowed his copy of "Spirit of the Century" by Donoghue, Hicks, and Balsera. It is a role-playing game that takes place in the 'Pulp' era, with all the decidedly fun Pulp hero archetypes and scenarios.
The reason he suggested I read it was two-fold (He will correct me, if I am wrong). First, the rules are simple and direct, as this is meant to be a 'pickup' style game (i.e., simple is good). Secondly, every rule and concept leads right back to the story. For the players to use the game mechanics of fate points to reroll or add a bonus to critical actions (skill rolls), the player must invoke 'aspects' or story themes. The player is forced to enhance the story by telling how their character's aspects fit in the scene to allow heroic action.
Really, it is quite clever how the designers marry creative role-playing with power gaming. I could only imagine how much more colorful many a gaming session would have been if the die rolls had been so directly effected by role-playing effort in other games. Point made.
While I view our game construct here to be more for experienced gamers, it might not hurt to encourage role-playing through nudges and bumps to die rolls. Also, it will not hurt to have this apply at a couple of different levels of action. While I have always allowed players to 'grease the wheels' of an adventure through solid role-playing (i.e., made NPCs more forthcoming and dropped hints or clues in accordance with their efforts), it would not hurt to write in some solid suggestions at some point in this process.
Thanks Jeff!
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