Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
A Question Of Agency?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="prabe" data-source="post: 8153716" data-attributes="member: 7016699"><p>So, it has occurred to me that a DM in D&D (as usual, thinking 5E because it's the edition living in my brain) has a lot of agency over when things happen, but a lot less agency over what happens--most effects are predetermined, or at least defined in the rules; the DM is just deciding when they happen--while a GM in, say, Blades has effectively no agency over when anything happens--that's entirely up to the dice, so I think there's an argument no one has agency over it--but a lot of agency over what happens (so long as the table is willing to agree it follows from the fiction).</p><p></p><p>That's only quasi-related to your question, though.</p><p></p><p>As is this: A DM fudging a die roll because they want the story to go a specific place doesn't seem to be operating from a different motive from a GM in Blades who chooses an outcome because they want the story to go a specific place. Not that anyone has been impugning GM motives much, that I've seen.</p><p></p><p>If I were going to apply Force in a game of 5E, the obvious place would be the die rolls (or target numbers/DCs) hidden from the players. A less-obvious place might be in enemy/NPC decisions/tactics: a GM can shape things by playing the NPCs/enemies as more or less intelligent than they should be. Perhaps less obvious than that would be something like scenario design, where the PCs have limited options, information, and/or time. Perhaps less obvious than that would be stuff a GM can do with scene-framing, where like a good writer you can center attention on what you want (taking advantage of willing suspension of disbelief).</p><p></p><p>I've only read the SRD for Blades, but I don't remember seeing much in the way of mechanical constraints on the GM for framing scenes, or choosing outcomes. Those would be the places I would look.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prabe, post: 8153716, member: 7016699"] So, it has occurred to me that a DM in D&D (as usual, thinking 5E because it's the edition living in my brain) has a lot of agency over when things happen, but a lot less agency over what happens--most effects are predetermined, or at least defined in the rules; the DM is just deciding when they happen--while a GM in, say, Blades has effectively no agency over when anything happens--that's entirely up to the dice, so I think there's an argument no one has agency over it--but a lot of agency over what happens (so long as the table is willing to agree it follows from the fiction). That's only quasi-related to your question, though. As is this: A DM fudging a die roll because they want the story to go a specific place doesn't seem to be operating from a different motive from a GM in Blades who chooses an outcome because they want the story to go a specific place. Not that anyone has been impugning GM motives much, that I've seen. If I were going to apply Force in a game of 5E, the obvious place would be the die rolls (or target numbers/DCs) hidden from the players. A less-obvious place might be in enemy/NPC decisions/tactics: a GM can shape things by playing the NPCs/enemies as more or less intelligent than they should be. Perhaps less obvious than that would be something like scenario design, where the PCs have limited options, information, and/or time. Perhaps less obvious than that would be stuff a GM can do with scene-framing, where like a good writer you can center attention on what you want (taking advantage of willing suspension of disbelief). I've only read the SRD for Blades, but I don't remember seeing much in the way of mechanical constraints on the GM for framing scenes, or choosing outcomes. Those would be the places I would look. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
A Question Of Agency?
Top