D&D General What is player agency to you?

[mamba]

Oh yes, how interesting. Let's play a fish out of water game, the twist is that all of the NPCs ignore you and nothing happens.

I am sure something can happen, apparently I can do whatever I want in your game, as long as there is no rule against it

 

[Gimby]

If someone walked up to Buckingham Palace and claimed to be king of Waterdeep, at best they'd be laughed at. There is no way they would be granted an audience with Charles.

In any case ... it's not worth arguing about. If you want it to work no matter how illogical in your game feel free. I wouldn't want to play in that game.

How about if someone claimed to be royalty and asked for a tour of the Navy's most prestigious battleship? And this demonstrates that actual royals would have got the same treatment without scepticism. "Illogical" actions happen in the real world constantly.

 

[soviet]

what if the players say that the noble feature working makes no sense and it therefore should not? Can the players break the rules while the GM is bound by them?

No no you must obviously force your players to accept the outcome they hate

 

[mamba]

Shall we meet the King and try to explain our crazy story, making embarrassing faux pas at the dinner table? No let's fight some rats or something until a story thread is passed to us.

I did not say we were first level, the Londoners on the other hand…

 

[soviet]

I am sure something can happen, apparently I can do whatever I want in your game, as long as there is no rule against it

Pretty much

 

[mamba]

No no you must obviously force your players to accept the outcome they hate

so the players have more agency than the DM, they can say what works and what doesn’t, even when it is against the rules. Just wanted to confirm that

 

[soviet]

so the players have more agency than the DM, they can say what works and what doesn’t, even when it is against the rules. Just wanted to confirm that

This is a non-sequitur

 

[mamba]

Pretty much

yeah, then there is no reason for you to say ‘how boring, nothing happens’…

 

[mamba]

This is a non-sequitur

no it isn’t, it is an obvious conclusion based on what you said, or maybe you need to look up what a non-sequitur is

Can the DM reject an audience despite what the feature says? No
Can the players decide the feature should not work even though it has no exception as written? Yes

I did not say they did not ask for one…

 

[Micah Sweet]

I've posted actual play examples from 4e D&D, from Burning Wheel, from Torchbearer and from Classic Traveller. I can provide more if you like. These are not hypotheticals - they are actual illustrations of high player agency play, with consistent and compelling gameworlds, emotionally powerful action, and no "player narrative control" beyond declaring actions for their PCs.

Seems like the players have implicit narrative control over the game anyway, since all of your actions are dictated by their desires and/or the rulebook.