Recent content by Nagol

Player died. Game in jeopardy. Alternatively, Player died. Time to grieve.

The person or group who built/discovered the fiction, obviously. Of course there are and they might even have been used here with a subset of players present, but I'm discussing the case where that fictional positioning has already been determined by whatever source. For example, 6 sessions...

Factions are tools. Like all tools they have a best-use case and a worst-use case. Factions can be an excellent tool to provide access to abilities the party (or even just a single PC) normally can't access on their own. They can also be excellent foils / drivers of adventure that provide a...

If there is legitimate disagreement as to possibility of success then determining an auto-fail isn't a sensible interaction. Can people do it still? Yeah. But it is on par with someone claiming their PC can "totally" carry their gear, the partner's gear and their partner while running from a...

Re: "Say yes or roll the dice" DM: Your detective PCs realize the bad-guy just got in his car and driving away -- he's about half a mile ahead of you. What do you do? Player: I jump in front of his car! DM: Err.... The philosophy of 'say yes or roll' relies on sensible interactions with the...

Not really, GM force is more a marker of GM predisposition. I've had GMs run using strong illusionism, choice negation, and other forms of force entirely ad hoc as well as fully-prepped key-for-lock treasure, heavily keyed systems. Funny thing is, they are the same GMs.

A decent skeleton of a plan for areas that are in any way self-sufficient. That's... pretty much nowhere in modern states. Trying cell isolation whilst still importing food, medicine, and other supplies will fail. Now, the failures may be sparse enough you can control the additional outbreaks.

First, it would suck to roll 20, 15, 15 on 3d20 if the 15s will hit. Second, if "meat" is restricted to Con or Con + something small like level, then your are into a situation where a single hit on "meat" can drop an opponent regardless if a critical was scored. You'd need to redo damage rolls...

I am not a hard-fast 1 PC per player in many campaigns. In others, I am, it depends strongly on the table experience I am looking for for a particulalr campaign. However, I have had poor experiences in the past with particular players seeking extra-special attention / advantages from...

The PC is part of the shared world. The PC is being retired by the player. Therefore someone else (namely the DM) needs to operate the character. Can the player decide to reprise his ownership? Maybe, depending on the reason for retirement. Can the player use the PC in a different campaign...

It's happened a few times where the group effectively "fires" a PC. "Thanks for your efforts, but we feel your tactics/priorities are incompatible with the group. Now that we are back in civilization, here is your balance owing. We hope you have success with your future endeavours." If I am...

This occurs not infrequently in campaigns I run. I never interfere in player decision-making unless an outside force is doing so in the world. Should different PC sub-groups provide different stimulus, the environment will adjust its response. The environment responds to stimuli in priority...

It could take hours to get to that door. I've had groups take hours whilst in front of that door looking for alternative choices before someone decides to say 'Eff it! I open it anyway!" No, you can chop down disarm, or avoid the NPC too -- using the correct tools. If you have an axe, you...

Yeah, the situation looks very similar to DM: This dungeon door is trapped. Player: I open it anyway. <mechanical resolution> DM: Make a new PC. Compare: DM: This man is powerful, controls the legal machinery, and is known to be unstable and severely punishing of dissent. PC1: I mouth off...

Umm, stocks are guarded. I suppose rebels might storm the guards to rescue two unknowns who apparently attacked the king so poorly they are merely in the stocks. It's probably more likely they would be tormented/injured by loyalists and/or children.