NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 6206829" data-attributes="member: 29398">Oh you'll still have an impact - it just might not be what you and-or your party were after.Obviously.  And no matter what you do you'll have an impact.  My argument is that you seem to want that impact to always be positive and controlled, where I say a negative or neutral or completely unexpected impact arising from doing the wrong thing can be just as entertaining.  The only way to completely de-protagonize your character (in almost all situations) is to do nothing at all and just stand there quietly, and very few if any players will do this on a regular basis.Why?  That seems like a perfectly reasonable choice to have to make for an honour-bound Pally.Why does it always have to be about you/your PC?  Maybe the scene you're in has nothing to do with you at all to begin with, you've been put in it to see if you realize this and can restrain yourself from interfering until unexpected-action X happens.  Example: your 4th-level (1e) party is waiting to see the chamberlain.  Again.  This is the third day in a row you've spent sitting in his waiting room, but you really need the king's direct permission for this venture as it might involve clashes with forces from the neighouring Barony (currently against the law, by royal decree) and without the king's relaxation of his decree you'll end up hunted by two realms.  Over the past few days you've seen various other supplicants come and go, some are turned away immediately, others get in pretty fast, others are made to wait just like you.  What do you do?(note there could be any number of reasons why you're stuck waiting - you're being watched to see how patient you are; or there's a backroom dispute as to whether you're to be allowed in; or the king simply has higher priorities to deal with than you lot, etc.)Now here as DM I've decided that if you simply say "We'll wait longer" then half an hour later a crossbow bolt is going to come in the window and take down one of the other supplicants (a pre-planned plot development that leads to other things including you being fast-tracked into the king's presence should you so desire).  If you say "Screw it, we're leaving" then the crossbow incident will still happen but you might not learn of it for days.  If you do anything else e.g. start nosing around thepalace, or talk with other supplicants, etc. then that's played out as per usual - but it's a nothing scene that takes 30 seconds to resolve if the party (for once!) does nothing.What it also does is gives the party a chance to mess things up.The DM knows what's going to happen - of course - in the longer term (the crossbow bolt is coming in through the window in half an hour) but doesn't know if the party will be around to notice it or not.And in some cases there isn't a "better tactic", only "less worse".Lanefan</blockquote>

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