NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LostSoul" data-source="post: 6428255" data-attributes="member: 386">Thanks - like I've said, I haven't read or played Mega/Traveller.  I think this sort of procedure applies context to the Streetwise check.  With that context, I can see how the work of the random roll I would have made is covered by the background setting/setting generation procedures.Speaking abstractly, if the player is creating an element of the game world using PC resources that are not related to their PC's actual abilities, then I'd classify that as player authorship.  I think you can see how that works: the DM doesn't yet know if there are weapons available, so he or she calls for the player to make a check.  While it's true that the chance of success is set by the DM, the PC's roll is determining if such weapons actually exist.(I'm not speaking about Traveller specifically here, just the general principle.  Traveller seems to be a more nuanced case.)It's a subtle distinction, but one that I believe exists.  What I find interesting is how (to tie it back into the thread's topic) it relates to character vs. player play.  Like I've said, I use a specific mechanic for determining unknown aspects of the game world - I don't call for skill checks or anything relating to the PC.  I do this because I want to focus on "player" play - I like to call it "challenge-based" play.  But is this the best way to achieve that sort of play?  I think so, but it's always good to question your beliefs.I have been playing Call of Cthulhu lately - running it for the first time! - and there was an instance in that game that might be of relevance to this thread.  (A few, actually.)  The PCs found a hand-written manuscript off of one PC's old college friend, an Al Blackwood, who disappeared (aside from strange tweets and facebook posts) after his great-grandfather died.  It was written in Arabic, and the PCs did not speak that language.One of the players said that she would take it to one of her contacts at the ROM here in Toronto (I set the game in our town and at the current date).  I didn't have anything like that planned - it came out of the blue - but I figured I would roll with it.  I substituted the set-up I had for "investigating the manuscript" to go with what the player had suggested.  It seemed to work out.I'm a neophyte at running CoC and I wonder why that seemed like the best way to go.  It seems like Illusionism but, at the same time, it doesn't.(I have other concerns about that game - I think I may be screwing the players over horribly - but I think I've given them the opportunity to figure out that screw-job and, once they figure it out, they can get out of it easily.  It's tricky because the genre is what it is.  Anyway, it's not important to this thread.)</blockquote>

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