[quote=@Shoryu Magami]
I noticed you lurking too, actually.

A good portion of the previous discussion that was just referred to focused on emphasizing inherent problems that relying on dice during combat could bring to the table during a role-play. I don't plan to go into every detail I brought to up there, but the abridged of my side of the debate revolved around the idea that quality of writing would actually be stifled (creatively and competitively) and made less compelling (strategically and realistically) if dice or video game stats were implemented as the primary deciding factor for everything; there's plenty of ways to prevent the negative problems of free-form role-play - problems usually fostered by bad sportsmanship or poorly established groundwork - without dumbing things down like that. 
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I've only recently got into DnD, while I have been an active (and successful) participant in the Arena here for about four years. My assertion is that DnD dice rolls are a method of establishing outcome in a world where nothing is certain, as of yet, I have not seen dice rolls stifle creativity. The plans of action, the description of the intention, these things do not change with dice rolls. What dice rolls can sometimes do however, is have your plan fall flat. Your arrow misses the mark, you fumble with your pocket sand, your sword glances off armour. There is, to my mind, no loss of creativity in describing the effect of a success or a failure based off dice rolls.

What you are right about is that dice rolls do significantly reduce individual agency, and therefore the competitive nature, in the game. They put the game entirely in the hands of luck, which is fickle at best, and hardly indicative of which character has really employed the most successful strategy. In real life, it is better to be lucky than skilled, but in a fantasy world, I think I'd rather see the latter.

As for preventing the negative problems of free-form play, I have yet to see any one successful method employed between two genuinely competitive individuals. If two people want to win, there will be a point of contention at some point in the fight. The best thing to do is just to employ an impartial judge to mediate on these points of contention, but they will never be eliminated entirely aside from in circumstances where one or both players are not competitive or particularly assertive.

Albeit, this is anecdotal evidence, but it's based off extensive experience on this forum, and experience on others as well. 

Anyway, I'll be interested to see how this goes. I'm only interested in potentially joining this fight to experience the dice rolls, I have fought more than enough times in free-form (and am still fighting) for that to not be a significant enough draw alone.