Search results

Certain approaches are sometimes better at achieving certain goals. That's true of more than just how to conduct RPGs. Using a hammer is better than a screwdriver when driving in a nail. The larger question is why anyone would choose to get angry and go on the attack just because it's suggested...

Discussing the pros and cons of a given DMing approach is not "knocking down other contributors." A contributor is not their DMing approach. Pointing out potential problems with a DMing approach relative to someone's stated goals is not criticizing a person.

I'll note that in my approach, clarifying questions from the DM are fine. It's only in the approaches of others in this thread where it has been said it can be an issue.

Plenty of DMs in my experience have no problem with playing the characters for the players, so you're not alone. I prefer not to do that. I play the monsters, NPCs, and environment. Someone advocating for the first bit I quoted ("You open the door and see a 20x20 foot room. In the middle is a...

They're forever robbing and murdering them, or causing fights in their bars. The sort of DM that uses contact poison? Sure, sometimes. I made a thread about it a couple months back.

The handle has a deadly contact poison on it. (The barkeep rightfully hates adventurers.)

If you let me determine how your character approaches smashing the vase, this is the result:

Fully agree with you here - and I don't care about "metagaming." But if a player at my table wanted to not "metagame," perhaps because they thought it increased their feeling of immersion, then they could do that. I make no judgment either way. We disagree here because unless the player...

I would expect that sort of policy could result in more suspicion. Like, okay, you're now locked into the act of smashing the vase and now I need to know how. I might use that sling now instead of my forehead, which is what I originally imagined (since it played into the PC's personal...

If you imagine a game where every action declaration comes with the expectation that you state your goal and approach, then questions about details that may arise are normal. Since they are normal, they are less likely to raise suspicion than at a table where there is no expectation that the...

To be fair, you could choose not to "metagame." I would say it's up to the player and no one else, unless the player delegates that role.

Agreed! The player saying how they smash the vase is pretty simple in my view, and sometimes a necessary detail to determine if the action succeeds, fails, or calls for a roll of some kind.

In my post, I say not that the DM has taken freedom away, but that the player ceded it. They've given their freedom to choose away. Which they're free to do. It just may result in clarifying questions, which some posters suggest has some downsides.

Right, and feel free to discuss the upsides of not asking for "how" or only occasionally asking for it. You mentioned "characterization" previously, but that can be achieved by saying how you smash the vase, too, via active and/or descriptive roleplaying. You also said "freedom" but it seems to...

Ad hominems are unbecoming. Not sure why you keep raising this since it's been stated restated multiple times. If you don't want to continue the conversation, that's cool, just stop replying. I'm still happy to discuss the topic at hand if you are.

But perhaps you can see how it matters to others and why, and how setting this standard mitigates against other problems people in this thread have reported having.

The question is how.

The action is uncommitted as to how the character approaches smashing the vase. That leaves it an open question. Who answers that question? Either the DM asks the player for clarity and the DM uses that answer or the DM assumes and establishes that for the player, potentially leading to...

It's uncommitted in that they have not committed to how they smash the vase, either intentionally or unintentionally. They've committed to a goal (smashing the vase) but not the approach. The approach can affect the adjudication and narration.

Fully agree - but there are folks in this thread who have stated or otherwise agreed that asking for clarification tips the player off that something may be up, leading to "metagaming" and "takebacks." So they try to avoid that by establishing for the player what their character does, which can...