Search results

The player wants to throw a rock. It might or might not hit the tree. Everything else is GM-determined.

If I as a person in the real world throw a stone at a tree, and I hit, I might hope that it distracts the nearby guard, but I cannot guarantee that it will.

Your position seems to be that D&D can't be task resolution, because you prefer conflict resolution and you like D&D. The practices you describe may be more fun for you, and they would also be more fun for me, but they are not how the game as written works. Plenty of people play it without...

To be clear, my preference is for conflict resolution ('rolling for intent') over task resolution ('rolling for effect'). When I GM an old school task resolution game, I will still try to elicit the player's intent, and incorporate it into the outcome. But to say that TR and CR are the same...

Your position is that D&D is conflict resolution, and anyone trying to play it under a task resolution lens is doing it wrong?

The task is throwing a rock at a tree. The uncertainty is whether the PC will hit the tree. That's what the dice roll resolved.

I self-published a game many years ago, and a supplement for it, and I am working vaguely on something else in my spare time. Even if my game blew up somehow I don't want to do it for a living. I want to do it as a hobby that roughly pays for itself. It's a creative outlet on the side of my life.

I haven't read 5.24, but what you describe above is not reflected in the game text of any edition of D&D I'm familiar with, including 5.01. The player says what their character does and the DM decides what the outcome is. If the DM wants to take into account what the player was going for, great...

'I want to vote for the Leapords Eating People's Faces Party, but Mr GM, just so we're clear, I'm assuming we agree that no Leapords will eat my face.' [rolls dice nervously]

Exactly. The player can make the same action declaration in either case. The question is what the rules resolve. Do the rules resolve whether the rock hits the tree, leaving the GM to decide how (or whether) the guard reacts? Or do the rules also resolve (i.e. determine) the guard's reaction?

Sure! That's why I said in task resolution (effect) it's acceptable* but in conflict resolution (intent) it isn't. *still not great

No, I successfully intimidated the guard. It just didn't have the outcome I wanted.

Here's an example of the difference that happened to me once: The group has infiltrated the enemy encampment and we are in the enemy leader's tent killing him in his bed. An enemy guard hears a bit of noise and pokes his head inside the tent. I say that my barbarian tries to intimidate him...

It's great when 'this is an unlikely extrapolation for purposes of satire' becomes 'oh no, yeah'. c.f. The Handmaid's Tale

Good article, I agree mostly although I rate FMJ a lot higher (mainly based on the second half, which I think is stronger). Still haven't seen Barry Lyndon, which is unforgivable. 2001 is absolutely my favourite film of all time, so I'm with you there. Even my second favourite film of all time...

A separate PHB for each tier. Probably a separate MM too. Really focus on what makes each tier distinct, so players feel like they've achieved something when they graduate to the next one. 'We're not in Kansas anymore'. Hardscrabble beancounting and low HP tension to local heroes with increased...

OK I need someone to make me an actual mod real quick.

Aragorn being the rightful king and all the resulting tensions with the steward and Sauron's fears of Isildur's heir is a big part of the reason why the climactic battles are scheduled for Minas Tirith. In some campaign prep methods, Minas Tirith would have been created as a response to...

Good post. 'Aragorn can't die yet, he hasn't even got to Minas Tirith!'. I guess the other possible fail state for linear play is where characters do die and get replaced to such an extent that you have a Ship of Theseus situation (or Trigger's Broom for those of us in the UK), where by the time...

Sorry! Welcome to the forums :)