Daggerheart "Description on Demand" a GM DON'T

[Micah Sweet]

And having to ask the DM about world details is what removes me from character.

See, I guess I can understand that perspective, but I see making it up yourself on the spot as worse.

 

[zakael19]

I think a lot more people would take advantage of it then you might realize.

In hundreds of hours of play I’ve had it come up … twice? And I was like “interesting! So I don’t think that’s quite it…” and we pivoted.

Also the times when we bumped into that it was because I have a prompt that was too open.

 

[cranberry]

But the point is not that the players can simply re-write all narrative as they see fit. My example of the Ring of Three Wishes is that if you start from a ridiculous premise, of course you arrive at a ridiculous result. But even with Description on Demand, the GM still sets the scene and allows players to provide input into that scene with all the same abilities as in a traditional RPG to rein in absurd answers.

I think having to fill in the gaps for every room or encounter would start getting tedious after a while for most people. The novelty of this approach would wear off rather quickly.

 

[TwoSix]

I think a lot more people would take advantage of it then you might realize.

Out of the 20 players I play with, there are maybe 2 where I would have that as a real concern. And one of them didn’t have that issue when we played DH (although granted, it’s one session).

In my experience, when you put responsibility on the players to police themselves or the game breaks, they usually step up because they don’t want the game to break. As an example, when I’ve played 5e and let players pick their own stats, nobody selected all 18s. Heck, most of them picked several low stats.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think a lot more people would take advantage of it then you might realize.

The mindset required to play a narrative game in good faith (as player or GM) is hardly universal amongst the hobby, yes. I don't really have it, and neither I suspect do many of players.

 

[TwoSix]

I think having to fill in the gaps for every room or encounter would start getting tedious after a while for most people. The novelty of this approach would wear off rather quickly.

And I find DMing where I have to describe everything about every situation and just have the players listen to me often tedious.

Where does that leave us, other than we’d be better off not playing the same systems or types of games?

 

[cranberry]

Out of the 20 players I play with, there are maybe 2 where I would have that as a real concern. And one of them didn’t have that issue when we played DH (although granted, it’s one session).

In my experience, when you put responsibility on the players to police themselves or the game breaks, they usually step up because they don’t want the game to break. As an example, when I’ve played 5e and let players pick their own stats, nobody selected all 18s. Heck, most of them picked several low stats.

My example was extreme to point out its flaws. Even reasonable players will give themselves an edge (even a slight one) when given the opportunity.

 

[Reynard]

I think having to fill in the gaps for every room or encounter would start getting tedious after a while for most people. The novelty of this approach would wear off rather quickly.

I don't think the proposition is that it happens in "every room". It is a tool, like any other, that the GM can leverage to engage players and fill in the world and maybe give themselves some breathing room.

 

[Micah Sweet]

And I find DMing where I have to describe everything about every situation and just have the players listen to me often tedious.

Where does that leave us, other than we’d be better off not playing the same systems or types of games?

I think that is in fact where it leads you. And that's ok.

 

[Emerikol]

And having to ask the DM about world details is what removes me from character.

Since immersion is a state of mind, it can be affected by different things for different people. As a DM, I do try to minimize the need for questions. I describe what they see without being asked. They can say "I examine the chest more closely" which is no different from "I walk over to the chest and look closely at it". There is an established RPG meta-language much like the way an author describes things in a book. It works for me. Obviously not for you.