Not to paraphrase, but Cant's observations resonate for me in that in a closed media (by this I mean where much of the imagination is supplemented in a way opposed to a PnP experience) plot serves to either detract or enrich a cRPG. A good game, whether BG, System Shock or HL, is driven - in my experience - by choices that serve to advance plot. If balanced well enough, certain aspects of PnP can be gleefully sacrificed for the sake of game play. But that is my experience and why I continue to find the spectrum of titles such as BG, SS 2 and DX, quintessential balancing acts that have worked well in a medium that removes human interaction that one finds within an old die-based game that draws into the wee hours of the morn upon the Roost