Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 9515741" data-attributes="member: 6785785">It's not weird... it's just different. It depends on the goals of play. Like map and key type D&D, or a Call of Cthulhu mystery... they may be set up to function with this hidden persistent world that the PCs will encounter and will navigate using their abilities and player skill to try and "solve" the scenario. Beat the dungeon and get the treasure or find the source of madness in the small town and banish it. Or what have you. But that type of set up is very much about skilled play. There's a lot more game there than there tends to be in most examples of 5e play. In 5e, the goals may or may not be about achieving some win condition. Some folks may say it is, some folks may say it's more about creating a compelling <s>story</s> sequence of events, and to portray an interesting character. When 5e is the topic of conversation, I assume much more of the latter than the former. So in that sense, something like the Odin situation... I think that's cool portrayal of character (or at least, it's the opportunity for it) with meaningful stuff at play. Now, because of the way I tend to run 5e, I haven't prepped a ton of stuff ahead of time... so I have no personal investment in the setting elements that may be the "correct" way to try and resolve this problem. I simply don't have it, so I don't care about it. There won't be any wasted prep if I let the player's idea work. Plus, there will be meaningful consequences related to the request, which will offer inspiration for further exploration in play. Not exploration of the fictional geography, but if character and theme and such. So... depending on what the goal of play may be, this approach may or may not make sense. A cleric as in the character? Or the player of the cleric? I mean, a player may or may not be aware of some setting implications. The cleric themselves are going to have a kind of different view of things. I could easily see a player's interpretation of what their cleric does to be beseeching their deity for divine favor and miracles. So why would the character not beseech him to find some unfindable object? Why would they not see this as a spell or similar ritual? And if their prayers are normally answered, why would they not expect it? Even if it's not by the deity directly, but by a servant or in some roundabout way or what have you. So a player and a character may have very different views about what is or is not allowed in play. Yes, it should be about incorporating that relationship into play. To putting it to the test, to put it into conflict with other things and see what happens. Honestly, I'd say that what [USER=6801845]@Oofta[/USER] described as his default approach was much more just filling in blanks on the character sheet. Odin just seems like a deity selected from an approved list and the vague "source" of the PCs abilities. Sure, but it also means they may challenge those assumptions. To push against the status quo a bit. Which seems pretty foundational to the fantasy genre. Maybe it was hidden from divination? Again, I don't know... there could be any number of setting reasons. It all amounts to "The DM wrote X down in his notebook six months ago, and he is invested in X and values it more than the player's Y... so X it's gonna be." Yes, and I've said that the GM can say no, too. I'm just advocating for more instances of saying yes. There is no objective reality. It's all made up. There's only preference and our reasons for those preferences... again, shaped by the goals of play. Sure. Again, to go back to the Odin example... I expect that this was something meant to be dealt with in some other way, and very likely at a higher level. And so that needed to be preserved in some way. That's still gating things.</blockquote>

Verification