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I think this reveals a fundamental difference in how we each manage our campaigns. Earlier in the thread, I explained how influential my experience running LARP events was on my tabletop refereeing. Reading your post clarified what might be a core difference in how we approach player autonomy...

I am not; people are not generally good at stating or expressing their assumptions. And when you get two or more individuals with different assumptions talking about something, like tabletop roleplaying games, that has considerable overlap and sharing of techniques, it can lead to frustrations...

@CreamCloud0 can correct me but he is basically saying is not a problem of the play style it is your referee (GM) making an arbitrary call because they didn't like how you were trashing their setting. To put it plainly, you were a victim of a bad referee, regardless of what play style was being...

On this specific point, this is precisely why, when I referee, when I roleplay the NPCs, I will do so in the first person, so that the players have a better sense of what is going on with an NPC character. It's not a perfect emulation, but it's often good enough that it becomes a non-issue...

Same here, although I am neutral on the drain resources part. It may drain resources or it may not, depending on the circumstances and choices made. The only difference is that combat is adjudicated through a formal wargame-like set of procedures. While social encounters are adjudicated through...

It’s similar to a plan of battle, and in play it should be treated as such. When drafting a plan of battle, a commander plans for what could happen and what they would like to see happen, but they understand that’s not what will happen. So the plan includes contingencies to prepare for the...

So, a serious question: are exploration games an accurate label? To me, it feels similar to how dungeons function in Dungeons & Dragons, yes, dungeons are a common type of adventure in campaigns using D&D, but they’re not the only thing going on, nor are they always the primary focus of a D&D...

One additional comment: if that castle really existed as described, the owner, staff, and guards would almost certainly have such a plan already in place. Maybe not down to the minute, but barring overriding factors like corruption or incompetence, a competent ruler and their advisors would have...

Please join me for the launch of the Into Majestic Fantasy: The Northern Marches Kickstarter, the livestream starting at 7pm EDT and the Kickstarter launch at 10pm.

No, the encounter is not resolved. The guards remain there guarding, just as the peddler's dead body remains on the trail until discovered by a PC or another NPC travelling to Kensla on the same road.

Thanks for that. I don't know which statement of @Faolyn you are referring to. A map and key are not a requirement of bypassing encounters; it just requires a sense of space and where the characters are located within that space. So, if the referee can verbally paint a picture of a castle...

I'm reviewing the various posts, and what often gets overlooked is that there is a geographical component to all this. Using @Lanefan's example. There is a castle, there is a map of the castle, and on that map, there is a drawbridge with guards. There are also the other sides of the castle. Any...

Since this thread has gone through a few cycles, let me start with the basics so we're all on the same page about what I mean by encounters, something I’m sure @Micah Sweet will agree with. Encounters are situations that are narrow in scope. They can be created in various ways, including...