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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8151254" data-attributes="member: 16814">It was a haunted house.  It was a creepy portrait.  The player CHOSE to make the portrait magical -- I did not.  There was no magical gotach trap here, because there was no gotcha at all -- the player chose to make it magical in the context of a creepy haunter manor home (that belongs to Lord Scurlock, a being that has been alive for perhaps as long as the Emperor, ie at least a thousand years, and is known to be up to serious occult stuff).  The player then CHOSE to interact with the portrait they wanted to be magic in a way that directly puts occult consequences on the table -- ie, Attune.  So, yeah, to get to the part where I narrated that the portrait was doing a bad thing, we have two player choices, a lot of foreshadowing about occult things, and then a failed check which all led up to, not the portrait sucking out his soul, but that this was now on the table.As for the GM fiat statement -- if the GM can only decide to let player actions stand or negotiate a roll, this is very different from a GM that can say yes, roll, or no.  The authority to deny a thing is the control over the thing.  All are, yes, exercises of GM authority, but that's not a particularly interesting observation.  There's a huge difference in player authorities and agencies between the two models.  Let's not pretend they're the same.</blockquote>