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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5723971" data-attributes="member: 42582">Is it OK to explore the parameters of this a bit?First, I assume that when you make your PC you make some decisions about your PC's origin and backstory that involve exercising narrative control over the setting (because your PC presumably didn't choose the circumstances and content of his/her birth and biography).Second, suppose your PC backstory says nothing about siblings or other relatives. Would you ever ask the GM to introduce such an NPC (or even suggest that, for example, you might have a relative in your home village)? Or would you leave all this in the hands of the GM?A third thing I'm interested in relates to a current element of my own game. The PCs in my game recently fought a group of pirate thugs, and one of the thugs - their leader - escaped. One of the PCs, who is reestablishing a temple that is located on the same island in the town as the docks and the pirates, wants to recruit the pirates as guards, tarrif collectors and tithe collectors for his temple. I know this because the player of that PC emailed me explaining what he wanted to do.Now, I hadn't really given much thought to the personality of this pirate leader beyond what came out in the combat that took place. But the player's plans oblige me to ask myself, "Is this pirate leader amenable to becoming chief guard and tax collector for a temple instead?" And given that one of my players wants this to happen, and given that it will not make any significant difference to the pointy end of play, but will be primarily a background thing, I'm strongly inclined to answer "Yes".This is a player, de facto, influencing the setting not via his PC, but by stating plans to me as GM which then incline me as GM to decide that the setting (in this case, the personality of a particular NPC) is one sort of thing and not another.Is this the sort of non-PC-mediated influence over setting that you don't like in D&D?</blockquote>

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