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
*Dungeons & Dragons
Character play vs Player play
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="pemerton" data-source="post: 6418733" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>It's not clear what "actually" means here. The NPC isn't real; he is a fictional element within a larger fictional construct. Most of the time, the GM will not have described the NPC's facial hair, and so if it becomes salient only because the players have an idea for impersonation involving fake beards, what is the reason for blocking?</p><p></p><p>(I think the force of this semi-rhetorical question becomes increased if we note that "describe" in the sentence "It's the GM's job to describe the world" really means "author", as in "It's the GM's job to author the game backstory and then to inform the players of that backstory in ways appropriate to the actions that the players are declaring for their PCs.")</p><p></p><p>Even if the GM has written down in his/her notes that this NPC is clean-shaven, if the players have not yet been told that then what is the reason for sticking to the script?</p><p></p><p>And if you happen to be a GM who <em>does</em> describe every NPC's facial hair and appearance upon the PCs first encountering him/her, substitue some other detail in place of "beard" above eg does the NPC have shoulder length or short-cropped hair? Is s/he wearing green hose? Does s/he wear his/her sleeves full length or rolled up? Etc</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6418733, member: 42582"] It's not clear what "actually" means here. The NPC isn't real; he is a fictional element within a larger fictional construct. Most of the time, the GM will not have described the NPC's facial hair, and so if it becomes salient only because the players have an idea for impersonation involving fake beards, what is the reason for blocking? (I think the force of this semi-rhetorical question becomes increased if we note that "describe" in the sentence "It's the GM's job to describe the world" really means "author", as in "It's the GM's job to author the game backstory and then to inform the players of that backstory in ways appropriate to the actions that the players are declaring for their PCs.") Even if the GM has written down in his/her notes that this NPC is clean-shaven, if the players have not yet been told that then what is the reason for sticking to the script? And if you happen to be a GM who [I]does[/I] describe every NPC's facial hair and appearance upon the PCs first encountering him/her, substitue some other detail in place of "beard" above eg does the NPC have shoulder length or short-cropped hair? Is s/he wearing green hose? Does s/he wear his/her sleeves full length or rolled up? Etc [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Character play vs Player play
Top