Recent content by Xamnam

Plus, Mass Effect is a little flawed in that it really asks you to never waver once you've started down a path, given how you build up points in either side.

I think Mass Effect historically was the data point people relied on, 92% of players chose Paragon instead of Renegade: https://x.com/EbengerJohn/status/1230205582478458880 which does seem to in effect back up 15% choosing DU, given how much more reason there is to replay BG3:

I'm going to snip out the majority of this, because it's very kind of you to acknowledge everything you're agreeing with. It sounds like you do an excellent job of calibrating your players expectations, and working with them to make sure they can achieve their goals. I like to think that your...

Interesting. I totally see your logic here. But I definitely associate Neutral Ref with OSR texts/advice, especially in the context of justifying lethal play and combat as war. Edit: Yeah, the very first section on the Principia Apocrypha after the introduction is Be An Impartial Arbiter.

I am fortunate to not have been burned by this myself over much. However, the sort of language I constantly see go hand in hand with "player skill over character skill" are phrases like "I'm not here to hold the players' hands." and "My job is to be a neutral referee/arbiter." Those two are not...

None of what you say here is wrong. Part of what I was trying to communicate, it seems poorly, is that in lacking that common framework, which is natural, I'm going to be generous in my interpretations of player desire of character execution. I personally take more onus on me as GM to...

I'm sorry the last sentence hit poorly. I want to be clear, I'm only trying to speak for myself. Put another way, I don't want a player to have a bad time just because they have not grokked my style. I get that I can't eliminate the possibility, but a priority of mine is to minimize the chance...

The latter. To boil it down to as simple an example as possible: You've got some bandits in a cave/tomb/whatever, in between you and your goal. For one table, diplomacy might be the most valuable possible approach. Talking is always a good option, as long as they can understand you. At a...

I have found myself leaning more towards assuming and rewarding character skill over time, because I have found even when trying to be neutral, there's a lot of dangerous overlap between the idea of 'player skill' and playing in the way the GM personally expects/prefers/thinks is 'skilled'.

I personally have no issue with a DM wanting a specific setting, genre, tropes, and desiring a certain blend of usual denizens to reflect that. Whenever the reason given for the frustration is that: "Players only want 'to be special/weird/odd/unique,'" it gets my hackles up. It's presuming a...

I do think that the title of the thread is more likely to entice people who already agree with your position, and make those who are on the other side of it more likely to walk in defensive about a thing they enjoy. I can honestly say I've never once thought about how out of place or not the...

Also worth noting, in an interview with My First Dungeon, the designer gave a recommendation of applying Cut to roughly 50% of rolls. By the end of my three-session adventure, I agreed.

Ran through their adventure One Armed Scissor, and my table had a great time. Character and Ship creation were an absolute highlight for everyone, and the fantastical world really grabbed people quickly. Whispers are an absolutely delightful idea, and the players used them to great effect...

I think this might be what you're running into, because, yes, if someone else directly called me bad at something, especially to my face / in my presence, I'd probably be somewhat insulted, unless I also agreed and we knew each other reasonably well. Because I wouldn't say someone who is...

Yep, tried to cover this in my disclaimer, but you did a much better job of making this facet clear.