As shown above players describe the actions their characters are taking, they don't "act out" the actions. In this way it is possible to play a character who is capable of performing feats the player never could, in environments the player couldn't hope to recreate, while sitting in a comfortable chair in a friends' living room.

However, players will often drop "into character" for interesting conversational moments, for example: The storyteller (playing the part of a general) says to a player (playing a private): "Private, would please explain to me why my car has been run over by that tank?" In these cases it is much more fun to just play the conversation. In fact Honor's Hand, being an entirely text based game, makes this the norm. If it didn't the game would be a very dull read.

In any case, a game takes place in the player's imaginations. They imagine what the environment would look like, they imagine what the conversations and actions of the characters would be like, and they imagine what their characters would feel like.