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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Once a Fool" data-source="post: 3005901" data-attributes="member: 35783">The amount of attention being paid by a player is one example of what I'm talking about.  If the player isn't even interested in something going on in the game, I can usually assume that the character isn't, either, so I know which buttons to push later.Helping is good, especially for the new players, but the fighter's player shouldn't be looking up spells for tactical decision-making purposes unless the fighter has ranks in spellcraft (which he's going to take, now).  Why am I making a distinction between this kind of metagame playing and the other?  I suppose I'm looking for the type that helps players establish contact with their characters, and this particular example simply keeps the players of the magic-users from having to know that information, which is not good.Here's an example of letting the metagame set the course:Knowing that many of my players are skeptical of religion in the first place, and knowing, first-hand, where such skepticism tends to originate and what assumptions it makes, I engineered a lovely situation, more or less on the fly, which will have ramifications for the rest of the campaign.  First, it involves the introduction of a traveling companion, a human cleric of a (relatively) new religion whom the players and characters find pretty much annoying and useless.  Definitely not a good face for the church.  In fact, many of her traits are modeled on a co-worker's of a few of the players (and myself), with whom differing philosophies and ethical priorities discourage understanding.  The fighter's player was/is cheif among them.Fast-forward slightly to the battle with the Troll Hunter, in which several bad tactical decisions conspired to cause the death of the fighter.  The most obvious was the decision of the cleric to not stop cowering out of the way and actually cure the fighter.But, when the fight is over, the cleric does raise him.  But before he comes back, I passed a note over to the fighter:A deep, rumbling voice (not Claire's) [the cleric] echoes in your head."Will you serve Rotdoc [the god in question, God of Body]Mind, Body, and Soul?"The fighter accepted and the other characters (and their players) are still not sure he isn't undead, even though the party's cleric did try to turn him. (He did run away.)  And, for added amusement, the cleric has an ally in a fighter who finds her intensely annoying.I have been accused of having mostly unlikeable NPCs, but I believe that they are likeable, if enough time is spent getting to know them.If my terms are vague, it is both because I do not categorize my actions in my head as I do them, and because I welcome liberal interpretations of the question put forth.</blockquote>

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