[Lance]

Okay, so I think there isn't enough attention to a core matter in this discussion so I'll take a little time to talk about it and share some of my views.

We have what are considered two totally different things on Graal Kingdoms, one being the game mechanics (HP, exp, levels, stats, items, etc) and another being RPing. Most of you in this thread possess a basic understanding of what Roleplaying is, but some fail to recognize an important distinction.

Roleplaying is roleplaying.
Game mechanics are game mechanics.

Roleplayers can/should utilize game mechanics when they assist the roleplaying. For example, I'll talk about something mundane like walking around. If we didn't have game mechanics for walking around, a lot of roleplaying wouldn't make sense. It'd be harder to figure out where people were, and there would have to be more explanation about where people are and stuff.

Let's move on to items and stats and stuff. Let's say we've got a level 5 guy and a level 100 guy. They both are interested in roleplaying, and they want to roleplay together. Let's even say they want to have a battle. Now, game-mechanic-wise, their battle would be one-sided. There would be no imagination, no thought, no creativity involved. In fact, they wouldn't even have to actually fight to know the outcome. It'd be a waste of both of their time if they had a game-mechanics fight. It also wouldn't really show anything about their roleplaying skills. "Hurr I can swing my level 100 self's sword" is not usually considered good roleplaying.

So here's what I'm saying: You have to separate in your mind roleplaying from game mechanics. They're two extremely distinct things, and if you let the latter dominate, then you won't have much of the former, or at least nothing really with quality. The latter's meant to be support, help, assistance...but certainly not for setting all of the rules for you. You are supposed to use your imagination, and I think most people would agree with saying that's what roleplaying is all about.