D&D 5E Do PCs at your table have script immunity?

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

I've definitely had players ignore my campaign intro blurb, then express amazement when they have to eg train to level. A good number of players don't really pay attention to anything outside their turn in combat or when their PC is speaking - sometimes not even then!

That does happen. Pretty annoying when you're the GM. But I've always tried to keep things as entertaining as I could while still recognising that these moments will happen to even the best players (i.e. everyone is going to be distracted or bored at some point, regardless of how awesome the action is). Human nature. Players who are like this all the time though...

 

[Campbell]

On Vampire there definitely is a lack of alignment between what the game's systems rewarded and the instructions provided. I would have preferred the game design change to be more consistent with the way the game was presented than play to what I regard as an accident of design.

That being said I would not categorize the intended playstyle as lacking in fun. Nor would I say folks who enjoyed supers by night were wrong to enjoy that playstyle.

 

[Vaalingrade]

That being said I would not categorize the intended playstyle as lacking in fun.

That would be Wraith, a ruleset and setting that is a howling void whose suckening would spaghettify any fun that approaches.

 

[Arilyn]

I remember reading the fluff for WoD games. All seemed pretty cool. But then the mechanics never let you actually do any of those things. And first edition of Changeling was a contradictory mess of rules and fluff. And not even close to the scary Fae that supposedly had the Garou shaking in their paws!

Fluff and mood should match what the players will actually be doing in the game. Always.

 

[overgeeked]

I remember reading the fluff for WoD games. All seemed pretty cool. But then the mechanics never let you actually do any of those things. And first edition of Changeling was a contradictory mess of rules and fluff. And not even close to the scary Fae that supposedly had the Garou shaking in their paws!

Fluff and mood should match what the players will actually be doing in the game. Always.

While I agree with you completely, I wonder how that would actually play out for a lot of games. Some absolutely nail this. Like most PbtA games are pure gold when it comes to matching the fluff and mood to the mechanics and assumed activities of the PCs. And Call of Cthulhu does this spectacularly. As you mentioned, others are wildly divergent...like D&D. The fluff and mood clearly don't match the mechanics nor what the PCs will actually (generally speaking) be doing in the game. The fluff and mood speak to a fantastical faux-medieval land of endless epic quests and almost fairy tale-esque undreamable possibilities...while the mechanics and assumed PC activities point directly to an endless grind of slaughtering monsters for treasure, using that treasure to gain power, only to use that power to "progress" to ever more "deadly" monsters in the endless grind of slaughtering even more monsters for treasure. The assumed activities and mechanics point almost exactly to what you'd imagine the Old World setting of Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play would be, sans the guns. Not to something like the pastoral setting of the Forgotten Realms.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

On Vampire there definitely is a lack of alignment between what the game's systems rewarded and the instructions provided. I would have preferred the game design change to be more consistent with the way the game was presented than play to what I regard as an accident of design.

That being said I would not categorize the intended playstyle as lacking in fun. Nor would I say folks who enjoyed supers by night were wrong to enjoy that playstyle.

I'd argue it wasn't an accident of design at all, but quite intentional design based on the source material, some of which hewed pretty close to superheroes with fangs. I'd argue some of Anne Rice's stuff isn't far from that at times, for example. And things like the extensive combat splats didn't happen by accident - particularly the in-depth combat and weapons books. Further it didn't get represented as a problem until Rein*Hagen was off the product, which I think is significant. And the double down on it wasn't until the edition Rein*Hagen had nothing to do with (Revised). Perhaps more importantly a lot of not-necessarily-source vampire media leaned that way, and if VtM had rejected that hard from day 1 it'd have been an also-ran, not a big hit, I'd say, because later stuff which did work with that would have eaten it's lunch. But anyway I think it was intentional with R*H.

Tbf I'm not actually sure the game.in question was Vampire re the "no fun". It may have been Wraith or Werewolf.

 

[Neonchameleon]

The assumed activities and mechanics point almost exactly to what you'd imagine the Old World setting of Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play would be, sans the guns. Not to something like the pastoral setting of the Forgotten Realms.

Not really and I find WFRP is a much better match for what I'd expect the Old World to be like for a couple of reasons. The first is that the injury rules in D&D have always been non-existent (even under the most punishing old school rules you're fully functional on 1hp and you recover with just rest at the extreme in about the time a runner recovers from a marathon). And dungeon crawling in the Old World is suicidal.

I do however take the point; oD&D is much more suited to a Fantasy Western or somewhere on the edge like the Nentir Vale than it is for somewhere settled like the Realms.

 

[pogre]

Death is a possible consequence in my game and I enjoy the game less if it is not a possibility. I know this because I run Adventure League where death has no impact and it certainly changes how some players approach the game. My son and I were just talking about this last night after an Adventure League game and he made the same observation.

Having said that, for a couple of our players at the Adventure League table having their character die would be real-life devastating. I pretty much give them death immunity, because it would greatly reduce their enjoyment of the game. Yes, I cater to players in Adventure League - for me that's the whole point of AL - trying to build a better and bigger local player base.

My regular weekly campaign has a group of players who have a play style that is close to mine. It makes for great sessions and great campaigns.

 

[Lanefan]

Death is a possible consequence in my game and I enjoy the game less if it is not a possibility. I know this because I run Adventure League where death has no impact and it certainly changes how some players approach the game. My son and I were just talking about this last night after an Adventure League game and he made the same observation.

Having said that, for a couple of our players at the Adventure League table having their character die would be real-life devastating. I pretty much give them death immunity, because it would greatly reduce their enjoyment of the game. Yes, I cater to players in Adventure League - for me that's the whole point of AL - trying to build a better and bigger local player base.

What's impressive (or lucky) is that you can pull this off - catering to certain players - without causing resentment among the other players.

 

[El Condoro]

I had never considered that death could or would be off-limits in D&D but I think that I will change my approach somewhat. As others have said, I would gauge the players' opinions in a Session 0 to the idea of having no death until the average party level is 5 and Revivify becomes available. Until then, PCs that 'die' are saved from actual death but will lose an ability score permanently depending on how they 'died'. Through bad luck - player chooses; through stupidity - wisdom or intelligence; big mouth brought on an unnecessary fight - charisma; hit by massive damage - strength, dex or con. That sort of thing, so that death has lasting consequences but doesn't require a new character. After Level 5, the consequences are more narrative-based - something happens to the PC in the nexus between life and death that affects them when they are brought back/revived, malevolent interest from the planes etc. My basic premise is that 'death' should have lasting consequences but not necessarily a new character.