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5th ed D&D general impressions from a new player and DM.
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<blockquote data-quote="Swarmkeeper" data-source="post: 8199651" data-attributes="member: 6921763"><p>Except for the bit about "lavish narration", which is <strong>not</strong> required in games we run, this is very much in line with how I run ability check situations, when they are called for. Just add a DC in front of your phrasing such as : "make a DC 20 Dexterity (Thieves' tools) check and if [you] fail, [you] will take 8d6 of fire damage". Now they know the difficulty and stakes to make that informed decision. And the player then has the opportunity to come up with a different course of action because the assumption is that their PC is a very capable adventurer that is often able to discern the difficulty of the task before them.</p><p></p><p>With that in mind, I think I'm hitting both your wishes from the first paragraph to shape behavior and your second paragraph where mechanics add to the tension. This is happening as a result of the player being reasonably specific about what their PC is doing in the game world. It is the DM's responsibility to invoke mechanics when appropriate. It's the player's most basic role to "describe what they want to do." </p><p></p><p>At <em>my 5e table, </em>players invoking "I use Arcana" might be using symbols, but they are not using imagination in the context of the scene to the best of their ability. We're all more likely to feel something and respond when a player describes what their PC is aiming to do and why, maybe invoking something from their character's background, maybe utilizing something from their equipment, or their personality, or race or class or whatever. <em>I </em>just find "I use Arcana" to fall short. The goal here is not for the player to seek a mechanical solution necessarily, but to seek an imaginative one that engages with the game world and helps build immersion for all at the table. First person, third person, a few sentences, a short phrase, it doesn't matter as long as it is reasonably specific. "I use Arcana" is not specific enough for me, as DM, to adjudicate without making assumptions about what the PC is doing in the scene - so I'm going to ask for more detail.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Again, off the mark if you think our gameplay must be "slathered with verbiage". It just does <em>not </em>represent game play at my table or, likely, any other table that employs this method of insisting that players engage with the game world rather than just the naming a skill.</p><p></p><p></p><p>It jives with the rules, both new and old players pick it up very quickly, and it produces a fun result at the table so I'm really not sure how you can label it "misleading" or "idiosyncratic" -- other than perhaps it may seem somewhat foreign to your own experience with 5e. Hopefully my explanation under your first paragraph helps you realize this style is not as foreign as you have been trying to claim.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Swarmkeeper, post: 8199651, member: 6921763"] Except for the bit about "lavish narration", which is [B]not[/B] required in games we run, this is very much in line with how I run ability check situations, when they are called for. Just add a DC in front of your phrasing such as : "make a DC 20 Dexterity (Thieves' tools) check and if [you] fail, [you] will take 8d6 of fire damage". Now they know the difficulty and stakes to make that informed decision. And the player then has the opportunity to come up with a different course of action because the assumption is that their PC is a very capable adventurer that is often able to discern the difficulty of the task before them. With that in mind, I think I'm hitting both your wishes from the first paragraph to shape behavior and your second paragraph where mechanics add to the tension. This is happening as a result of the player being reasonably specific about what their PC is doing in the game world. It is the DM's responsibility to invoke mechanics when appropriate. It's the player's most basic role to "describe what they want to do." At [I]my 5e table, [/I]players invoking "I use Arcana" might be using symbols, but they are not using imagination in the context of the scene to the best of their ability. We're all more likely to feel something and respond when a player describes what their PC is aiming to do and why, maybe invoking something from their character's background, maybe utilizing something from their equipment, or their personality, or race or class or whatever. [I]I [/I]just find "I use Arcana" to fall short. The goal here is not for the player to seek a mechanical solution necessarily, but to seek an imaginative one that engages with the game world and helps build immersion for all at the table. First person, third person, a few sentences, a short phrase, it doesn't matter as long as it is reasonably specific. "I use Arcana" is not specific enough for me, as DM, to adjudicate without making assumptions about what the PC is doing in the scene - so I'm going to ask for more detail. Again, off the mark if you think our gameplay must be "slathered with verbiage". It just does [I]not [/I]represent game play at my table or, likely, any other table that employs this method of insisting that players engage with the game world rather than just the naming a skill. It jives with the rules, both new and old players pick it up very quickly, and it produces a fun result at the table so I'm really not sure how you can label it "misleading" or "idiosyncratic" -- other than perhaps it may seem somewhat foreign to your own experience with 5e. Hopefully my explanation under your first paragraph helps you realize this style is not as foreign as you have been trying to claim. [/QUOTE]
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