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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jacob Lewis" data-source="post: 9778281" data-attributes="member: 6667921">That’s a great example of how player and system expectations shape what we even try at the table. I’m not very familiar with Traveller, but it sounds similar to another system I’ve used—FFG’s Star Wars RPG—which encourages improvisation because its mechanics assume flexible use of skills in dynamic situations. D&D, by contrast, conditions us to look for codified options—to act through the verbs the system explicitly supports. So even when everyone’s open to more narrative engagement, the structure itself tends to narrow what feels “legal.”When I first decided to learn how to run Star Wars, I invited my regular D&D group to figure it out with me as players. My first mistake was bringing our expectations from D&D into a game that plays by very different principles. I was comfortable improvising and playing scenes out, but my players—many of them DMs themselves—struggled with crossing the traditional GM/player line to take creative liberties and shape the world in motion.It also took time for me to retrain my own D&D instincts—to approach a system that cared more about telling a story collaboratively than about executing structured procedures. It took the better part of a year before things started to click, and it only came together when I found a group that both understood the system and loved Star Wars. That campaign ended up being one of the best I’ve ever run, and more importantly, it changed how I look at all game systems.One quick example: during a D&D combat encounter, a player once asked how high the ceiling was. It’s not something I usually note down, but he clearly had something in mind. Rather than risk guessing wrong and shutting down his idea, I just asked him how high he needed it to be. The world wouldn’t collapse if that room’s ceiling changed from nine to twelve feet—but it would change how that moment played out for him.I know that doesn’t speak directly to any mechanics of the game, but I think it illustrates the same principles we’ve been discussing here—how narrative framing and player agency can shift the experience even when nothing mechanical changes.For me, the question isn’t about bypassing or undercutting D&D’s combat system, but about reframing what that system serves. If the mechanics exist to resolve uncertainty, they can still do that while being prompted by narrative intent rather than tactical procedure. The challenge, as you said, is alignment—getting both GM and players to agree that narrative flexibility isn’t a violation of the system, but an evolution of its intent.</blockquote>

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