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Gaming session lessons: why moving slow is important all the time, and the kid learns kiting
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<blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6543470" data-attributes="member: 2011"><p>Well, I do describe the environments. I just might not necessarily do it with the level of foreshadowing that you might. Also, I definitely understand the concept of:</p><p></p><p>DM: "You have been slogging through the swamp for three days. You see a dead animal carcass, just like the early dozen or so carcasses that you have seen before. What do you do?"</p><p></p><p>as some DMs thinking that this is too much of a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" that something special is going on at this location and giving the player a little bit of metaknowledge that they should not have. In other words, if the PCs had already encountered a dozen (or even hundreds of) carcasses in the swamp, and precautions that they took the first few times are not resulting in encounters, wouldn't they eventually come to think that the sign of a carcass rarely means an encounter?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I do not disagree. And I rarely use passive perception or passive insight myself. The reason for the "passive stealth" houserule of mine is that I do not want to roll 5 PC active perceptions against 4 NPC active stealths, and 4 NPC active perceptions against 5 PC active stealths. That's a lot of rolling.</p><p></p><p>Nor do I want encounters to just be about:</p><p></p><p>Player 1: "The DM opened his mouth and described an environment. Everyone be alert."</p><p></p><p>Although my system is not perfect, it does avoid that issue a bit. And if I combine it with some foreshadowing (when I remember to do so), the players do not get into this mode of "hey guys, something is about to happen" because sometimes, encounters just spring up on them and sometimes, I'm putting out a lot of detail for the environment which may or may not result in an encounter.</p><p></p><p>But, I don't think that the DM should go beyond a general description and into a lot of detail for overland travel encounters. If monsters are hiding, PCs really shouldn't get a chance to do something out of the ordinary. Describing an environment, then asking what the PCs are doing results in "metagame decision making" instead of "fake difficulty".</p><p></p><p>But I definitely get your point.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KarinsDad, post: 6543470, member: 2011"] Well, I do describe the environments. I just might not necessarily do it with the level of foreshadowing that you might. Also, I definitely understand the concept of: DM: "You have been slogging through the swamp for three days. You see a dead animal carcass, just like the early dozen or so carcasses that you have seen before. What do you do?" as some DMs thinking that this is too much of a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" that something special is going on at this location and giving the player a little bit of metaknowledge that they should not have. In other words, if the PCs had already encountered a dozen (or even hundreds of) carcasses in the swamp, and precautions that they took the first few times are not resulting in encounters, wouldn't they eventually come to think that the sign of a carcass rarely means an encounter? I do not disagree. And I rarely use passive perception or passive insight myself. The reason for the "passive stealth" houserule of mine is that I do not want to roll 5 PC active perceptions against 4 NPC active stealths, and 4 NPC active perceptions against 5 PC active stealths. That's a lot of rolling. Nor do I want encounters to just be about: Player 1: "The DM opened his mouth and described an environment. Everyone be alert." Although my system is not perfect, it does avoid that issue a bit. And if I combine it with some foreshadowing (when I remember to do so), the players do not get into this mode of "hey guys, something is about to happen" because sometimes, encounters just spring up on them and sometimes, I'm putting out a lot of detail for the environment which may or may not result in an encounter. But, I don't think that the DM should go beyond a general description and into a lot of detail for overland travel encounters. If monsters are hiding, PCs really shouldn't get a chance to do something out of the ordinary. Describing an environment, then asking what the PCs are doing results in "metagame decision making" instead of "fake difficulty". But I definitely get your point. [/QUOTE]
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