Agreed. But telling players what to do (beyond, y'know, "play by the rules") is not merely par for the course, it's the only way to run a functional game.I swear, the hypervigilance to anything that could possibly be construed as telling DMs what to do is unreal around here.
Not questioning the hypothetical - just not following it. Did I understand the point right?Did everyone miss the part where this is a purely hypothetical different ruleset? “The DM must” is laying out how this hypothetical different ruleset would work, not prescribing how people ought to run the existing ruleset.
I swear, the hypervigilance to anything that could possibly be construed as telling DMs what to do is unreal around here.
It's explicitly NOT saying that. I'll quote the relevant portion.Another if you don't play it the way I say you're playing it wrong? Good grief.![]()
Page 6 doesn't say that. In fact, it implies very strongly that what you are saying there is incorrect.I want advocate an interpretation of 5e. Let's call the game played this way 5e*. To be playing 5e* a DM must ensure that "narrate" (PHB 6, How to Play) means "say something meaningful".
I don’t know as I’m not the original poster, but, no, I don’t think you did.Not questioning the hypothetical - just not following it. Did I understand the point right?
Well, yeah. That’s the critical point of distinction between 5e and this 5e*, isn’t it? If I understood correctly, everything else about the two rule sets is hypothetically identical.Page 6 doesn't say that. In fact, it implies very strongly that what you are saying there is incorrect.
"Describing the results often leads to another decision point, which brings the flow of the game right back to step 1."
"Often leads to" means that sometimes it doesn't, and a narration that doesn't lead to the players making any kind of decision isn't meaningful.