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<blockquote data-quote="Lerysh" data-source="post: 6420210" data-attributes="member: 6783796">Holy balls, 16 pages later and we are still on &quot;Players should have no authoritative control over the universe&quot;?&nbsp; Really?I said this way back on page 4 or something and I'll say it again: Saying &quot;Yes&quot; to players leads to happier players and better narratives.&nbsp; If they want to stack up boxes to reach a window instead of buying a damn grappling hook, why should you stand in the way of that?&nbsp; Instead of a DC 15 climb check make it a DC 15 strength check.&nbsp; Same edge of your seat rolling if that's what you want.My least favorite game session I ever had the DM described a room full of barrels and boxes and an oncoming orc horde that was sure to doom us all.&nbsp; I started to barricade the door with barrels and boxes and the orcs rolled right of them and the rest of the party like wet tissue paper.&nbsp; We all died and for what, because the DM had an unwavering narrative in his head that the boxes couldn't be stacked fast enough.&nbsp; Not only did he not tell me that, he actively punished me for outside the box (the box being hack and slash) thinking by wasting my turn moving boxes.&nbsp; If instead he had run with the idea of the barricade, let us short rest like we needed, and then fight the orcs outside likely no one would have died and the session would have been much more fun.The basic flow of the plot is establish goal, set up obstacles, allow PCs to overcome obstacles, achieve goal.&nbsp; Everyone wins when these things go smoothly.&nbsp; Obstacles and challenges should be difficult but any action a PC takes to overcome the obstacle should have some reasonable chance at success.&nbsp; After all, all you really want is for them to come up with a solution on their own and work it through.&nbsp; It might fail, and advance the plot through that failure, but it should probably succeed.&nbsp; Letting the PCs toil away for no result is how you get to &quot;Look, what do I have to roll to get passed this&quot;.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lerysh, post: 6420210, member: 6783796"] Holy balls, 16 pages later and we are still on "Players should have no authoritative control over the universe"? Really? I said this way back on page 4 or something and I'll say it again: Saying "Yes" to players leads to happier players and better narratives. If they want to stack up boxes to reach a window instead of buying a damn grappling hook, why should you stand in the way of that? Instead of a DC 15 climb check make it a DC 15 strength check. Same edge of your seat rolling if that's what you want. My least favorite game session I ever had the DM described a room full of barrels and boxes and an oncoming orc horde that was sure to doom us all. I started to barricade the door with barrels and boxes and the orcs rolled right of them and the rest of the party like wet tissue paper. We all died and for what, because the DM had an unwavering narrative in his head that the boxes couldn't be stacked fast enough. Not only did he not tell me that, he actively punished me for outside the box (the box being hack and slash) thinking by wasting my turn moving boxes. If instead he had run with the idea of the barricade, let us short rest like we needed, and then fight the orcs outside likely no one would have died and the session would have been much more fun. The basic flow of the plot is establish goal, set up obstacles, allow PCs to overcome obstacles, achieve goal. Everyone wins when these things go smoothly. Obstacles and challenges should be difficult but any action a PC takes to overcome the obstacle should have some reasonable chance at success. After all, all you really want is for them to come up with a solution on their own and work it through. It might fail, and advance the plot through that failure, but it should probably succeed. Letting the PCs toil away for no result is how you get to "Look, what do I have to roll to get passed this". [/QUOTE]

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