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Does everyone play one-way? Are you saying everyone uses the same Living World sandbox approach that @robertsconley uses which is the same as @Bedrockgames as @Maxperson as @Lanefan as @Micah Sweet as @SableWyvern as @AlViking as myself or that we all consider our games Living World. Is this...

Anyone of us can plan the defenses of a location - with a planned sequence of events a, b, c. Can we at least agree there? If the PC avoid such events through creative play are they encounters or not encounters? One can use other examples where a planned encounter with the strong potential...

You don't understand how stealth, bribery, invisibility, teleport, pass without trace and a myriad other skills, abilities and spells can bypass encounters or at the very least combat encounters? At this point I would ask how long have you been playing D&D and who do you play with? Even 4e...

Yes. But everyone here has played D&D we are not speaking Latin when we talk about bypassing an encounter.

If avoiding an encounter makes sense then bypassing an encounter makes sense. Please lets not make common parlance a onetruewayism.

Honestly I do not think language has been shaped because if it had been, then APs and Modules would label everything as Potential Encounters. The reason they don't do it, is because the idea is superfluous.

Exactly, my ambush had no official map-key I could have run it ToM or pulled out my grid. The idea of an ambush was in my head and I had noted several page numbers from various sources of the possible monsters I was to use. I did little prep because there was a strong possibility they were going...

The amount of detail I prep for a combat depends on the goals of that combat.

@EzekielRaiden a little upthread I posted a situation which saw the PCs sequestered for several fictional hours (not exactly like your example) but there are similarities. Admittedly the fiction which unfolding was purely GM discretion based on the conversation that played out at the table. None...

Encounters missed/avoided were either planned via map-key, alluded to (as per my example upthread), or avoided by tactic, missed via timing etc. I missed your birthday party, I missed your dad's funeral, I missed my aeroplane, I missed my doctor's appointment. This is all common parlance and...

The link doesn't work for me - what number post was it?

How have you overcome illusionism for your table? Did you become more structured/constrained in your biases - i.e. GM Decides? I found that injecting some player-facing mechanisms here and there helped to constrain my hollowness feeling. I needed that extra step away, and elevate the gaming...

You're right, two thoughts in one sentence. I'll amend it to say what I meant. I agree with this. And the hollowness you speak of is what set me down the path of incorporating other techniques.

DMs who can do this indefinitely either (a) Have players who do not know any better (b) Do not know better themselves. This, I suspect, happens mostly with homogenous tables who do not get any exposure. I experienced one such group such as this during my time as a player when 4e came out...

Sure, avoided is a better word. Agree. That scenario with much less detail prepped by me, happened. The idea was the ambush was to occur outside the inn the PCs were stationed at on their way to the Council meeting which was called for 9am. But whether I had prepped a map-and-key +...

How would you describe as an example whereby the party became aware of an ambush on their lives so they cast invisibility and made their way from A to B without incurring the ambush. Did they not bypass the encounter?

Like I said I don't have an issue with any of the above...since we share a lot of it. My contention is not necessarily that GM decides everything but that when I speak of a driving force I don't solely make it the PCs. I recognise my role in that driving force too. Now all of us (players with...

Can you give an example of this? As I can't remember a time where this as come up at my table. The opposite has come up where the monster died before the cool power materialized or recharged but I don't think I've experienced what you seem to be talking about.

Hey @Lanefan my EDIT on my post just above yours addresses where I was coming from. We just cross-posted I think.

Yes that is how it works. A - "Everything" is GM decides B - Not really I use tables A - Yes but you created those tables therefore GM decides. B - These tables are extensive, 2 pages deep And like everything I prep doesn't always see the light of day. PCs aren't forced to engage. And I don't...