Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 9382591" data-attributes="member: 6801228">I was not talking about New School play. I was talking about Old school play.I have never heard of a DM empowering a spell because the player gave a fancy description. And actually, most of the people who advocate for old school play have told me, in no uncertain terms, that a vague action is NOT acceptable. They need to know EXACTLY what I am doing, in case I trigger a trap. As for the type of wood... I know you keep caling it Hard Fun, but where is the challenge there? I either know that Birch wood burns longer and hotter than Hickory wood which is smokier or I don't. And if the DM demands I name the wood type while setting up camp... well, then I can just google the information and write down a few stock answers. The Hard Fun of googling random trivia and writing it down because I got punished for not knowing it? I don't see the appeal.Of course they aren't, but a wizard with a 20 Intelligence IS a hyper-intelligent character. So, no one is allowed to play a 20 INT wizard unless they have a PhD? But they can play a fighter who is stronger, tougher and faster than them... because the lines are drawn haphazardly. But we role-play to be someone else. Not to just copy our own abilities onto the character sheet. Hence, why I keep saying that the goals of play are different.Which is what I keep trying to point out. Old School play wants to train the Real Life PLayers in Real Life Skills that they get better at each time they die. In the new school, a player might say "Hey, my fighter was the commander of a squad of soldiers in the war, he might know a better way to engage with these enemies." and then roll, and the DM would give information. Like, "Well, you know that similar troops often kept mounts near the walls, so you might be able to spook them to cause a distraction" Because that is the sort of thing a veteran of many battles in a long war could reasonably know, but Timmy is a high school graduate whose only exposure to war is the occasional high level documentary, In the old school method, Timmy just can't play a veteran warrior until he had played enough DnD games to learn enough tricks, to start knowing these sort of tactics. I don't know how to explain this to you in a manner that will get through to you. You just described old school DnD as mountain climbing, going to the club, skydiving (all extreme activities that are highly regarded) that requires everyone to be on point and make no mistakes. Everyone has to be focused and prepared, ready for anything. Then you described New School DnD as soft and delicate, relaxed and casual, just for fun. Like swimming in a pool or going fishing, just nothing to take too seriously, you don't really need to worry about the game or playing well... Do you not see how you are insulting people with this? I've caused players to cry from the emotional moments in my games. I've gotten everyone panicked and scrambling, looking for any advantage in a fight, because they saw death on the table. I've had players struggle for weeks to unravel a mystery. I've had them screaming for joy when they finally outmaneuvered their foes. My games are not soft and delicate things, light social gatherings that no one really cares about.</blockquote>

Verification