Dammit, John.
Thanks for pulling the rug out from under my carefully constructed meta frameworks :)
However he's on point here. Some of the best game sessions I've ever been in or run had little or no dice rolling involved. So why do I still obsess over game mechanics?
The best Shadowrun game session was played in the dark, by candlelight and no dice were thrown. One of the best 7thSea game sessions was where I realized what needed to happen and asked the GM for a sidebar, where I described what I thought should happen and he went for it. We went back to the table and narrated the outcome of a dramatic duel.
Because game mechanics inform me what kind of game I am playing and what I can do in it. It's a twist on the old adage: "when all you have is a hammer, all your problems resemble nails." If your game system spends 50% of its word-count on structuring and adjudicating combat, then guess how I expect to solve problems while playing that game?
As a counter-example: I'm in a FATE game involving dreamers and where the dream world is as real as the mundane one. The concept is fascinating, the characters are interesting. But I have a problem in this game: I don't know what I can do in the game. Now in this case this is part FATE but also due to the setting as presented. Our characters are as new to this world as the players are, and therefore they are learning as we are. But it can happen with other games as well sometimes.
Mechanics inform gameplay, but also inherently define and limit choice in game. But genre also informs choice. In a Lord Of The Rings setting, you have all the novels and movies to draw upon for inspiration. Anime has tons of tropes used to describe what can happen in their worlds.
On the other hand, simulationist games depend on structure. The story evolves from the combination of choices made and results of dice. This is one of the reasons I don't roleplay in the Battletech universe; it's too damn easy for your mecha pilots to get killed outright and there's little to no game mechanics to mitigate that for story purposes. In this sense, a 1st edition Dungeons and Dragons game is the same way: your 1st level character has single-digit hit points, and a housecat stands a decent chance of killing your wizard outright. But lets set aside simulationist games for now and return to storytelling games.
Just what purpose do rules and mechanics serve in a storytelling game?
Rules and mechanics should be inclusive of all players and promote safety.
Rules and mechanics should enable fun.
Rules and mechanics should enable and inform choices, not limit them.
And if rules and mechanics get in the way, throw them out the window.
