Daggerheart "Description on Demand" a GM DON'T

[Reynard]

That's one of the main reasons I'm enjoying the system. My normal approach of roll up to the table, read a quick summary of the last play session and go, works even better here than it does for D&D.

I really like it for my style of play, where "prep" is mostly what happened last time and what the voices on my shoulder are telling me.

 

[Reynard]

Overprepare by the standards of Daggerheart, obviously.

The advice is not vague. DH has some of the most complete and specific advice for running it that I have seen.

 

[TwoSix]

Four people sit down to play a nice game of Clue. Everyone picks their characters, the cards are shuffled, the murderer, murder weapon and location are tucked away in their envelope, and Player 1 rolls the dice.

Player 1: "Okay, I'm going to buy my first army and place them in Indonesia. Let's say that's the Study here."
Player 2: "Wait, what? This is Clue, not Risk."
Player 1: "I have an advantageous starting position, and as you know, I'm a very good Risk player."
Player 2: "It's a totally different board game."
Player 1: "Ah, but you admit that it IS a board game. Well this is what a good player does in that case."

I deduce it was Colonel Mustard, in South America, with the 12 armies.

 

[CleverNickName]

Hm. I've run a dozen different gaming groups for nearly 30 years, and I've never met a player who didn't enjoy contributing to the narrative when prompted. (I refuse to adopt Alexanderian's vernacular for this phenomenon. Stop trying to make Fetch happen, it's never gonna happen.) I think this is a tempest in a teapot.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The advice is not vague. DH has some of the most complete and specific advice for running it that I have seen.

Honestly, I wish more trad games had that level of advice and degree of intentionality. It's nothing but a good in RPG design IMO.

 

[Cadence]

A good DM is not making it up on the spot. A good DM details the adventure and the world ahead of time.

Lots of good* DMs have to make stuff up on the spot a lot, including lots of details. Because most DMs don't have infinite time, many players have boundless creativity, and stopping a game session when the players get off the prepared material doesn't work well with constrained schedules.

* DM's on here

 

[SkidAce]

My players dont like "description on demand" for things that should be the DM's purview. I.e. ask them to describe whats in the treasures chest.

"A staff of the magi".. DM: "Uh, no".

But they do like things that they control, like the famous "How do you want to do this?" or "you created a potion of X, what were the ingredients and how do you do it?"

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm late to this party, but I think that there is a pretty easy solution for this problem:

As the GM, ask the player if they'd like to do the description, and if they don't, do it yourself, or ask if anyone else wants to do it.

 

[Cadence]

Just to make sure I'm on the right page, PbtA and similar games are designed particularly for players who want to share in the world/scene creation during play and focus on pushing the story and not character advantage?

 

[TwoSix]

Just to make sure I'm on the right page, PbtA and similar games are designed particularly for players who want to share in the world/scene creation during play and focus on pushing the story and not character advantage?

Broadly, yes.