Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7045403" data-attributes="member: 97077">So it seems there's a general dislike of the DM saying what the character does. Many of us seem to agree on that point. But it's so, so common from what I can see, including among very popular podcasters. This is what I think is going on:In the Basic Rules, it tells us the basic conversation of the game (as I call it):1. The DM describes the environment.2. The players describe what they want to do.3. The DM narrates the results of the adventurers' actions.Somewhere in between 2 and 3, the DM may decide a mechanic needs to be used to resolve uncertainty, but otherwise, this is the fundamental interaction between players and DMs in the game. Each has their role to play. Round and round it goes in a loop.The approach under discussion, I think, is an attempt - conscious or otherwise - at a solution when the player does not adequately perform Step 2. "Adequately" here meaning providing a clear goal and approach. The DM, rather than ask for further clarification, moves to Step 3 and fills in the blanks as it were, making assumptions as to the character's goal and/or approach, whatever was lacking in the description. In some recent podcasts, I was happy to see some players push back against this when the DM assumed things the player didn't like or didn't think was appropriate. But really, the "problem" started when they didn't perform Step 2 adequately.Now, there may also be an issue in some cases with the DM performing Step 1 such that the player lacks enough context to properly establish a goal and approach. It snowballs from there, resulting in the DM doing even more of the talking than the players do. Oftentimes, when we see reports on the forums about issues in the game, it can often be traced back to the DM and players not focusing on the basic conversation of the game. So I suggest that may also be what's going on with this approach as well. It's easy to get wrapped up in the "harder" mechanics. I think the focus, however, is best placed on this simple, three-step conversation. Being mindful of it solves a lot of issues downstream.</blockquote>

Verification