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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7742805" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>This is awful.</p><p></p><p>And this is worse.</p><p></p><p>The player(s) on the side that loses have just given up a great deal of their agency to game mechanics and meta-considerations; and further, are now forced by these mechanics into doing something their characters don't want to do. And this is relevant: sometimes what the player wants to do and what the character wants to do are quite different; and here good roleplay dictates that the character's desires take precedence. I've played characters into adventures I-as-player had no interest in at all; and I've had characters pull me out of adventures that I-as-player were really keen on.</p><p></p><p>If the players in their roleplaying of their characters have put those characters into an argument with each other, if you-as-DM have an NPC in the party you can throw in that character's in-character take on things, but other than that you-as-DM have no business using game mechanics to cut it short and-or force a resolution.</p><p></p><p>If the argument goes on all night, so be it. Less work for you; sit back and enjoy your beer.</p><p></p><p>If the argument becomes serious enough to split the party, so be it. You and the players now have the meta-issue of which part of the party to run, but IME if it's the players that are splitting the group they're also always cool with helping decide what gets run next. (usually, IME if the party splits into groups A and B the players in group B roll up new characters for group A and vice versa, then A gets run for a while and B put on hold, after which A gets put on hold and B gets run. The definition of "a while" varies by group and situation.)</p><p></p><p>Lanefan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7742805, member: 29398"] This is awful. And this is worse. The player(s) on the side that loses have just given up a great deal of their agency to game mechanics and meta-considerations; and further, are now forced by these mechanics into doing something their characters don't want to do. And this is relevant: sometimes what the player wants to do and what the character wants to do are quite different; and here good roleplay dictates that the character's desires take precedence. I've played characters into adventures I-as-player had no interest in at all; and I've had characters pull me out of adventures that I-as-player were really keen on. If the players in their roleplaying of their characters have put those characters into an argument with each other, if you-as-DM have an NPC in the party you can throw in that character's in-character take on things, but other than that you-as-DM have no business using game mechanics to cut it short and-or force a resolution. If the argument goes on all night, so be it. Less work for you; sit back and enjoy your beer. If the argument becomes serious enough to split the party, so be it. You and the players now have the meta-issue of which part of the party to run, but IME if it's the players that are splitting the group they're also always cool with helping decide what gets run next. (usually, IME if the party splits into groups A and B the players in group B roll up new characters for group A and vice versa, then A gets run for a while and B put on hold, after which A gets put on hold and B gets run. The definition of "a while" varies by group and situation.) Lanefan [/QUOTE]
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