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5e and the Cheesecake Factory: Explaining Good Enough
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8202190" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p><u><strong>Framing scenes</strong></u></p><p>D&D has had different answers, over time, to <em>who gets to frame scenes</em>. In his PHB, Gygax - under the heading Successful Adventures (pp 107, 109) - argues that skilled player will try and take charge of scene framing, by mapping carefully, engaging in scouting missions prior to looting missions, avoiding getting distracted by the GM's tricks and ploys, etc. Certain important spells, like Spider Climb and Flay and Passwall and Dimension Door and Teleport, all have the function of letting players manage when scenes begin and when they end, and who is in them and who is not.</p><p></p><p>Of course Gygax doesn't use the language of scenes, but that doesn't stop us understanding what he was talking about, and locating it within the broader framework of thinking about how RPGs can be played.</p><p></p><p>The idea that it is overwhelmingly <em>the GM</em> who is in charge of scenes and pacing emerges implicitly in DL and post-DL modules, and becomes "official" in AD&D 2nd ed. 3E, 4e and 5e all continue with that assumption, 4e at least calling out expressly as one of the GM's jobs. </p><p></p><p><strong><u>Controlling the consequences of action resolution</u></strong></p><p>D&D has traditionally given the GM a strong role in this respect, but the basis on which that role should be carried out has been set out in different ways.</p><p></p><p>Gygax's AD&D, and even more clearly Moldvay Basic, emphasis free-kriegsspeil norms: the GM should extrapolate consequences based on what makes sense given the established fiction.</p><p></p><p>2nd ed AD&D talks much more about <em>what is good for the "story"</em>. A contrast would be this: nothing in Moldvay Basic or Gygax's AD&D suggests that if the PCs defeat a "big bad" and the GM had in mind stuff that the big bad might do down the track, the GM should manipulate the off-screen fiction to establish a second-in-command who takes up the mantle and does the stuff anyway. Whereas 2nd ed AD&D does tend to suggest this sort of thing; and a clear example is also found in the 3E module Bastion of Broken Souls.</p><p></p><p>4e is the version of D&D that is clearest in allowing players to establish consequences of action resolution via successful checks or the use of "powers". In other versions there are spells and occasional non-magical abilities like Action Surge that are functionally analogous to powers, but precisely because these don't sit within a broader ethos of player protagonism there can sometimes be an ethos - which Gygax at least seemed to encourage - of the GM trying to use the fiction, both on-screen and off-screen, to subvert player purposes in using those abilities.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Why talk about scene-framing and consequences together?</u></strong></p><p>The relationship between the two is this: if the GM controls both then <em>everything that happens in the game is the GM's decision</em>.</p><p></p><p>In different ways, Gygaxian AD&D, Moldvay Basic and 4e depart from that state of affairs. Speaking in general terms 2nd ed AD&D, 3E and 5e do not.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8202190, member: 42582"] [U][B]Framing scenes[/B][/U] D&D has had different answers, over time, to [I]who gets to frame scenes[/I]. In his PHB, Gygax - under the heading Successful Adventures (pp 107, 109) - argues that skilled player will try and take charge of scene framing, by mapping carefully, engaging in scouting missions prior to looting missions, avoiding getting distracted by the GM's tricks and ploys, etc. Certain important spells, like Spider Climb and Flay and Passwall and Dimension Door and Teleport, all have the function of letting players manage when scenes begin and when they end, and who is in them and who is not. Of course Gygax doesn't use the language of scenes, but that doesn't stop us understanding what he was talking about, and locating it within the broader framework of thinking about how RPGs can be played. The idea that it is overwhelmingly [I]the GM[/I] who is in charge of scenes and pacing emerges implicitly in DL and post-DL modules, and becomes "official" in AD&D 2nd ed. 3E, 4e and 5e all continue with that assumption, 4e at least calling out expressly as one of the GM's jobs. [B][U]Controlling the consequences of action resolution[/U][/B] D&D has traditionally given the GM a strong role in this respect, but the basis on which that role should be carried out has been set out in different ways. Gygax's AD&D, and even more clearly Moldvay Basic, emphasis free-kriegsspeil norms: the GM should extrapolate consequences based on what makes sense given the established fiction. 2nd ed AD&D talks much more about [I]what is good for the "story"[/I]. A contrast would be this: nothing in Moldvay Basic or Gygax's AD&D suggests that if the PCs defeat a "big bad" and the GM had in mind stuff that the big bad might do down the track, the GM should manipulate the off-screen fiction to establish a second-in-command who takes up the mantle and does the stuff anyway. Whereas 2nd ed AD&D does tend to suggest this sort of thing; and a clear example is also found in the 3E module Bastion of Broken Souls. 4e is the version of D&D that is clearest in allowing players to establish consequences of action resolution via successful checks or the use of "powers". In other versions there are spells and occasional non-magical abilities like Action Surge that are functionally analogous to powers, but precisely because these don't sit within a broader ethos of player protagonism there can sometimes be an ethos - which Gygax at least seemed to encourage - of the GM trying to use the fiction, both on-screen and off-screen, to subvert player purposes in using those abilities. [B][U]Why talk about scene-framing and consequences together?[/U][/B] The relationship between the two is this: if the GM controls both then [I]everything that happens in the game is the GM's decision[/I]. In different ways, Gygaxian AD&D, Moldvay Basic and 4e depart from that state of affairs. Speaking in general terms 2nd ed AD&D, 3E and 5e do not. [/QUOTE]
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