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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Grendel_Khan" data-source="post: 8671559" data-attributes="member: 7028554">That's a bit more direct than I might have put it, but sounds about right.This gets at something that's bugged me for years, which is when GMs talk about PCs dying because the players did something "stupid" or generally presenting games as being about PCs sussing out the right way to approach various challenges. Call me a dirty hippy, but I'm way more interested in narratives that are interesting and unexpected, and especially where the characters do things based on meaningful drives and flaws, not based on constant optimization and ruthless efficiency. But more than that, I don't like the idea of games being primarily about reading and anticipating the GM, figuring out what they think is the "smart" move in a given situation.Some of the most interesting stories in other mediums are ones where there's no right decision to make, just decisions with different consequences. And even in stories where there's a clear path to success, the plot often kicks off (and/or pivots later on) based on someone acting impulsively--doing the exact kind of thing that those horrible "How It Should Have Ended" videos try to skewer, because they're made by dweebs who've conveniently blocked out having ever made a non-calculated or emotional decision in their lives. I'm not saying every group of PCs should be purely impulsive blowhards blundering through every scene. But the idea that there's always the right or smart approach, in other words the one the GM believes they should take, and that the GM is waiting to swoop in and punish stupidity (again, stupid by their standards) is increasingly mind-boggling to me. That's old school GM-player antagonism to the hilt, and players trying to "beat" the GM.In other words, there's a reason so many newer games include something like "Be a fan of the players/characters" as a guideline. It's a useful one.</blockquote>

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