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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7018387" data-attributes="member: 42582">It's not just the "decker issue", which is about the relationship between mechanical/in-fiction roles and PC building.It's also about mechanics: if a game resolves talking with one roll, but combat with 100 rolls, then PCs whose thing is combat rather than talking are naturally going to enjoy more spotlight, simply because making 100 rolls takes longer than making one roll.But even the "decker issue" has at least this much to do with spotlight balance: if the game has such a character, then that character either enjoys no spotlight or much spotlight. Handling this is not just a GM issue; it's also a rules issue (eg if you don't want "the face" to hog all the spotlight in social encounters, what do the rules allow the GM to do get the other PCs involved? In combat, in many RPGs, the analogouos answer is that the GM is allowed to stipulate that a NPC attacks the non-warrior PC - but what is the equivalent of an "attack" in social resolution? That's a rules issue, not just a GMing issue).Interesting points.I don't like the idea of the GM manipulating rules or fiction to make the PCs have their "special moment" - a bit too railroad-y for my taste. I do think the GM is under an obligation to frame situations that (over the course of a session, or perhaps a handful of sessions) speak to all the PCs and bring them into the action in some fashion. The first step a player takes in impacting the fiction is to build/play a PC who provides clear hooks to the GM for this sort of stuff.</blockquote>

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