EzekielRaiden
Legend
I don't really take a vote generally. This is usually what happens when some kind of disagreement occurs (using an invented example):At a certain point, people are going to disagree. At that point, the person with the strongest personality may push others who don't want to make waves. Perhaps you take a vote to decide. But if there are multiple options, one person will likely suggest something that is not accepted, that's just kind of how it works. As a software developer I've always said that if you put 2 developers in a room they will likely come to 3 different conclusions on how to approach a problem. In a lot of cases, all 3 will be viable.
Bard: "I use my arcane duelist skills* to reflect the spell back at its source!"
GM (Me): "Hmm...your blade skills can do an awful lot, but that sounds like a pretty major power up. How are you intending to do that? Walk me through the process."
Bard: "Well...we know my blade was made by air genies, and air is all about redirecting. And it has the ability to call back the feather-bladed knives, right? I figure I'm manipulating that magic in a new direction, 'calling' the spell back to its source."
Spellslinger**: "Sounds legit to me."
Me: "Okay, so what's the most important part of this for you: not getting hit by the spell, or sending the spell back to its source?"
Bard: "Hmm. I'd like both, but if I had to pick one...probably sending it back."
Me: "Alright--I'm willing to consider that a sort of stunt you're performing, a blend of Arcane Art† and your new Duelist abilities, but it's going to take all your concentration to pull off, and if you fail the spell is going to really hurt. If you roll extraordinarily well, you'll learn something about this--the start of a brand-new Technique that no one else has. Is that worth the risk to you?"
Bard: (thinks for a long moment) "Y'know what? Screw it. Yeah, that's worth the risk. With an elaborate flick of my wrist, I bat the spell's energy away, carried on winds of magic back to its source."
Me: "Sounds like a plan. Roll that beautiful dice footage.††"
Bard: "Alright...(rolls) ...crap, that's a 7. Can't even boost that up with [the Battlemaster's] help."
Me: "You've got the right idea about how to deflect magic, but you're still new and this was incredibly spur of the moment. The magical wind from your sword has been hooked into the spell--you can send the spell back to its source, but it will take your sword with it; or you can keep your sword, and the total power of the spell will fall exclusively on you and no one else. Your choice.‡"
Bard: "Eugh, I don't like either of those...and I'm the healer..." [audibly agonizing] "...I let my sword go. It's the safer bet."
[Fight proceeds from there]
*A multiclass the Bard has picked up.
**Think artificer/gunslinger hybrid. A wizard with medieval pistols.
†The way DW Bards do magic; they don't have discrete spells, and instead get a move that defines what kinds of spell effects they can make.
††A joke, if one can even call it that, which I make frequently.
‡A partial success (roll total is 7-9) often works like this; this specific thing is inspired by the Defy Danger move: "On a 7-9, you stumble, hesitate, or flinch: the GM will offer you a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice." This is an ugly choice.
GM (Me): "Hmm...your blade skills can do an awful lot, but that sounds like a pretty major power up. How are you intending to do that? Walk me through the process."
Bard: "Well...we know my blade was made by air genies, and air is all about redirecting. And it has the ability to call back the feather-bladed knives, right? I figure I'm manipulating that magic in a new direction, 'calling' the spell back to its source."
Spellslinger**: "Sounds legit to me."
Me: "Okay, so what's the most important part of this for you: not getting hit by the spell, or sending the spell back to its source?"
Bard: "Hmm. I'd like both, but if I had to pick one...probably sending it back."
Me: "Alright--I'm willing to consider that a sort of stunt you're performing, a blend of Arcane Art† and your new Duelist abilities, but it's going to take all your concentration to pull off, and if you fail the spell is going to really hurt. If you roll extraordinarily well, you'll learn something about this--the start of a brand-new Technique that no one else has. Is that worth the risk to you?"
Bard: (thinks for a long moment) "Y'know what? Screw it. Yeah, that's worth the risk. With an elaborate flick of my wrist, I bat the spell's energy away, carried on winds of magic back to its source."
Me: "Sounds like a plan. Roll that beautiful dice footage.††"
Bard: "Alright...(rolls) ...crap, that's a 7. Can't even boost that up with [the Battlemaster's] help."
Me: "You've got the right idea about how to deflect magic, but you're still new and this was incredibly spur of the moment. The magical wind from your sword has been hooked into the spell--you can send the spell back to its source, but it will take your sword with it; or you can keep your sword, and the total power of the spell will fall exclusively on you and no one else. Your choice.‡"
Bard: "Eugh, I don't like either of those...and I'm the healer..." [audibly agonizing] "...I let my sword go. It's the safer bet."
[Fight proceeds from there]
*A multiclass the Bard has picked up.
**Think artificer/gunslinger hybrid. A wizard with medieval pistols.
†The way DW Bards do magic; they don't have discrete spells, and instead get a move that defines what kinds of spell effects they can make.
††A joke, if one can even call it that, which I make frequently.
‡A partial success (roll total is 7-9) often works like this; this specific thing is inspired by the Defy Danger move: "On a 7-9, you stumble, hesitate, or flinch: the GM will offer you a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice." This is an ugly choice.
This characterizes the vast majority of formal "gameplay" (as in, triggering rules) discussions for our game. The majority of discussions-in-general are usually one of us being a huge nerd, or someone asking a question about the situation or setting and us working through finding the answer. Again, this is a completely invented example, none of this has actually happened, but it certainly could happen now that the Bard has developed magical fencing skills.
In genuinely every case, for over four and a half (pushing five) years of mostly-weekly play, we've resolved every single disagreement like this. Other than out of laughter or shock (or for RP purposes), nobody even raises their voices. The player lays out what they want, I give it a fair hearing and make an offer (or just accept, because sometimes I have zero problems with what they want!) If I make an offer, they either accept it and we move forward, or they make a counter-offer/tweak/request. I can't think of a time when the player's counter-offer wasn't generally acceptable. The longest such a conversation might run is ten minutes, and that would be an extremely involved multi-step negotiation. Usually it's over within a minute or two.
We do this all the time. I've never once had any issues that resulted in an impasse. I don't see any reason why I would suddenly run into one now after nearly five years of play.
It's not a matter of pretending. I've genuinely never had the kinds of conflict you describe. Even in games where I've been a player, the only conflicts that have come close to what you describe are rare and, as far as I can remember, always the result of miscommunication, misunderstanding, or one specific player being malicious.It's fine if you make it work for you. But don't pretend there will never be conflict or a difference of opinion. Heck, in our D&D game today we couldn't even decide what direction to go and ended up going 3 ways.
Alright. I'm willing to drop the subject as well.But I also don't really see what all of this has to do with creativity. D&D sets out different parameters, different ways of resolving conflicting ideas than some other games. By default the DM makes the final call. I prefer that, even when I'm playing and the DM makes a decision I don't care for because when I'm playing I just want to inhabit my character. I don't want to think about world building, I just want to focus on what my character would think, feel or do in the moment given what their options are. There's still plenty of creativity in what my character does, even if we stick pretty close to RAW.