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<blockquote data-quote="Sunseeker" data-source="post: 7738459"><p>My "Red-Line" is when a mechanic forces a player to sit out of the game, the longer it is, the further it crosses the line. I don't mind games that say "You've been possessed and the spirit controlling your body wishes to attack your allies." So long as that control is given to the player, "Hey player, you're still rolling the dice here, but you're gonna do something different." is perfectly acceptable. When the game <em>takes away</em> the character, puts it under direct GM control (where the GM is making the decisions and rolling the dice) as opposed to indirect GM control (where the GM gives you instructions on how to act, but lets the player rolls the dice and fill in the specifics) is IMO, too far. You don't want to remove the player from the game, the player should always be kept in the game, even if its to do things they don't want to do. Indeed fighting against the mind control can make for interesting choices, ex:</p><p></p><p>If the Evil Wizard commands you to attack your friends, the choice on which friend you attack first is left up to the player. Perhaps the dominated-but-still-aware PC mind takes this as an excuse to attack That Guy who has always been a pain or to finally rid the party of the Bumbling Idiot. Perhaps the dominated-but-still-aware PC mind ops to attack the tough, heavily-armored fighter knowing that they are least likely to kill that person. It is interesting from a DM perspective to allow players that level of control, and I think fitting to the genre that the bad guy may not issue the most tactical orders, ie: the bad guy is more likely to say "Kill your friends!" than he is to say "Kill the healer, then the mage, then the rogue, then fighter and make sure they're actually dead by cutting off their heads!" Maybe there's even some interesting dialogue as all the bad things the dominated-but-still-aware PC feels (even if minor) spill out during combat. </p><p></p><p>But you lose that when you take away the PC and make them a silent drone of the GM, or allow the GM to write that sort of interaction for them. Plus the GM has so much to do already...do they really want to run the PCs as well?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sunseeker, post: 7738459"] My "Red-Line" is when a mechanic forces a player to sit out of the game, the longer it is, the further it crosses the line. I don't mind games that say "You've been possessed and the spirit controlling your body wishes to attack your allies." So long as that control is given to the player, "Hey player, you're still rolling the dice here, but you're gonna do something different." is perfectly acceptable. When the game [I]takes away[/I] the character, puts it under direct GM control (where the GM is making the decisions and rolling the dice) as opposed to indirect GM control (where the GM gives you instructions on how to act, but lets the player rolls the dice and fill in the specifics) is IMO, too far. You don't want to remove the player from the game, the player should always be kept in the game, even if its to do things they don't want to do. Indeed fighting against the mind control can make for interesting choices, ex: If the Evil Wizard commands you to attack your friends, the choice on which friend you attack first is left up to the player. Perhaps the dominated-but-still-aware PC mind takes this as an excuse to attack That Guy who has always been a pain or to finally rid the party of the Bumbling Idiot. Perhaps the dominated-but-still-aware PC mind ops to attack the tough, heavily-armored fighter knowing that they are least likely to kill that person. It is interesting from a DM perspective to allow players that level of control, and I think fitting to the genre that the bad guy may not issue the most tactical orders, ie: the bad guy is more likely to say "Kill your friends!" than he is to say "Kill the healer, then the mage, then the rogue, then fighter and make sure they're actually dead by cutting off their heads!" Maybe there's even some interesting dialogue as all the bad things the dominated-but-still-aware PC feels (even if minor) spill out during combat. But you lose that when you take away the PC and make them a silent drone of the GM, or allow the GM to write that sort of interaction for them. Plus the GM has so much to do already...do they really want to run the PCs as well? [/QUOTE]
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