D&D General What is player agency to you?

[soviet]

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.

The word you're looking for is agency

 

[mamba]

The word you're looking for is agency

not sure why you think I was looking for it…

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

Have you looked up non-sequitur in the meantime?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Would they? Says who? I mean, here's what the rulebook says they would think:

Thanks to your noble birth, people are inclined to think the best of you. You are welcome in high society, and people assume you have the right to be wherever you are. The common folk make every effort to accommodate you and avoid your displeasure, and other people of high birth treat you as a member of the same social sphere. You can secure an audience with a local noble if you need to.​

So they would accept that I have the right to be there, would treat me as a member of the nobility, and would grant me an audience with a local noble (of whom the UK has quite a few, some of whom live in and about Buckingham Palace).

But  why would they do that? Do you have any reason to give other than, "the rules widget says so"? If not, it means nothing to me.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The word you're looking for is agency

I'm not looking for any word. I meant what I said.

 

[soviet]

not sure why you think I was looking for it…

Wasn't intended as a response to you, two posts merged together

Have you looked up non-sequitur in the meantime?

 

[soviet]

But  why would they do that? Do you have any reason to give other than, "the rules widget says so"? If not, it means nothing to me.

The rule explains why it works

 

[Micah Sweet]

The rule explains why it works

So no, you don't.

 

[mamba]

As I've posted, and as I've illustrated with multiple examples from actual play, the GM frames scenes and narrates consequences (especially consequences that flow from failure).

yes, but who determines the consequences? Is the player declaring what he is risking, is it some random table, is it actually the GM deciding something for a change instead of just executing the rules?

RPGing is more exciting than cooperative storytelling, because of the role division - for instance, it's more exciting for the players to have someone else work out, following a failed roll, how whatever it is that they've staked is lost. It's more exciting to respond to an external prompt than to your own imagining about what might go wrong.

so a talking rulebook then? I am still looking for your agency in all of this

I can see why the players have more agency, I can see why they prefer someone to look up stuff and describe things to them based on their input, I just am not seeing what your role is, outside from just being an accommodating host, so they can more easily and enjoyably play out their adventures

This is not meant condescending, I am just trying to be clear and to find your agency in this. Right now it seems to be ‘how you summarize what the players told you’, ‘help the players by following the rules and narrating results for them’, and presumably some input into battles

What gets in the way of this being cooperative storytelling by the players seem to be the rules only

 

[Campbell]

The rule reinforces who you are and where you come from. It's also one of the few reliable abilities in the social pillar. When I run games, I want players to feel like their connections to the setting are a real boon. The background features do so without me having to explicitly actively manage it. I want players to invest their characters into the setting and feel like the social pillar is as reliable as more brute force / magic oriented solutions.

As a GM they are honestly my second favorite part of 5e after the social interaction rules in the DMG.

 

[FrogReaver]

Player: I'm going to use Second Wind to -
GM: Nope, you're too tired
Player: Oh, uh, I'll use my Noble background to -
GM: Nope, they've never heard of you
Player: Well I'll cast -
GM: The winds of magic are unpredictable, my friend! No bueno
Player: Well I'll tell the guard -
GM: He doesn't speak Common, only Orcish
Player: Haha, I can speak Orcish too, I say -
GM: He's deaf
Player: I draw my sword out of the scabbard -
GM: It's stuck
Player: I hit him with the sword still in the scabbard -
GM: It slips out of your hand and down a ravine
Player: I sit down in despair
GM: No need to give up yet! I was just about to let you exercise your agency!

It amazes me how tone deaf this is.