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General Tabletop Discussion
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A GMing telling the players about the gameworld is not like real life
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7588771" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>What do you mean by 'success'? Let me pose an example: The PCs are the defenders of the town. Beyond the town in all directions is The Wilderness. Generations ago the wilderness was far away and there were other towns. Now it is close, monsters wander near, only great heroes can turn the tide and prevent the extinction of civilization (this is basically a somewhat grimdark version of 4e's PoL concept). </p><p></p><p>Who says the PCs will succeed? In order to do that they don't just need to rescue a few prisoners or track down a few threatening monsters. Those tasks are likely ones they will face, and success in every one of a graded series of tasks with ever greater stakes and consequence is required to reignite the fires of civilization and create a new Age of Light. It is absolutely quite possible that the PCs can succeed in some of the immediate tasks, but by accepting/being forced to accept failure in others they might in the end reach a point where the darkness tightens its grip on the town and then the light goes out. For all their work only crumbling ruins and perhaps a few furtive survivors who have accepted the necessity of making peace with the forces of darkness are left. This is a viable campaign outcome. </p><p></p><p>I would note that it is necessary, in order for this to work, that the GM communicate carefully what the consequences of each choice are to the players. Simply telling them 3 years later that the time they didn't save the prisoners from being sacrificed was the tipping point and they doomed everyone by taking a long rest without knowing that won't cut it. This is a game of hard choices. Instead you can play 'inevitable victory and the game is about the details' and then maybe the choices won't be quite so hard. Its up to you.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 7588771, member: 82106"] What do you mean by 'success'? Let me pose an example: The PCs are the defenders of the town. Beyond the town in all directions is The Wilderness. Generations ago the wilderness was far away and there were other towns. Now it is close, monsters wander near, only great heroes can turn the tide and prevent the extinction of civilization (this is basically a somewhat grimdark version of 4e's PoL concept). Who says the PCs will succeed? In order to do that they don't just need to rescue a few prisoners or track down a few threatening monsters. Those tasks are likely ones they will face, and success in every one of a graded series of tasks with ever greater stakes and consequence is required to reignite the fires of civilization and create a new Age of Light. It is absolutely quite possible that the PCs can succeed in some of the immediate tasks, but by accepting/being forced to accept failure in others they might in the end reach a point where the darkness tightens its grip on the town and then the light goes out. For all their work only crumbling ruins and perhaps a few furtive survivors who have accepted the necessity of making peace with the forces of darkness are left. This is a viable campaign outcome. I would note that it is necessary, in order for this to work, that the GM communicate carefully what the consequences of each choice are to the players. Simply telling them 3 years later that the time they didn't save the prisoners from being sacrificed was the tipping point and they doomed everyone by taking a long rest without knowing that won't cut it. This is a game of hard choices. Instead you can play 'inevitable victory and the game is about the details' and then maybe the choices won't be quite so hard. Its up to you. [/QUOTE]
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