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Introducing Complications Without Forcing Players to Play the "Mother May I?" Game
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<blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 7556965" data-attributes="member: 85555"><p>I think it depends on what you are after. If you are after the things pemerton wants, and it sounds like you might be, what you say is true. But I run a lot of sessions that are what I like to call Drama and Sandbox. Appropriate challenges and feeding into the players available resources or dramatic needs. Drama happens out of the chemistry of NPCs, PCs and stuff going on. But there isn't an set rhythm to it or an expectation that every thing that arises in the campaign has to intersect with player character's dramatic desires. Dramatic things happen. I am not afraid to deploy some drama (and I even have tables that occasionally call for things like twists or fated encounters). But the more traditional approach to play is still preserved (narrative tools are not given to the players for example). I find this approach is very rewarding for long term play and doesn't descend into the caricature of the style (mother may I). Obviously this might not be a good fit for your goals. I just think it is worth remembering not everything thinks in the terms that you and Pemerton appear to be (and not everyone embraces the concepts of G N S in their approaches to play---Since Gamism came up). There are plenty of rewarding approaches to complications that don't abide by the stuff laid out by Pemerton. </p><p></p><p>One thing I am sensing here is the sense of time scale appears to be broader on your end than mine. I could be wrong, but in your example it looks like a player asks do achieve something and you are able to insert 6 obstacles. I don't know what that something is. But generally I find my players take each step in the task they are trying to perform. For example they don't respond to "What do you do?" by saying "I take over Bone Breaking Sect", rather they take the immediate step toward that goal "I go down the street to Lofty Silkworm Teahouse and look for people who might be part of Bone Breaking Sect". We tend to take things in rather small steps. I may be misreading your posts. But that could also be a factor in the different approaches working or not.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bedrockgames, post: 7556965, member: 85555"] I think it depends on what you are after. If you are after the things pemerton wants, and it sounds like you might be, what you say is true. But I run a lot of sessions that are what I like to call Drama and Sandbox. Appropriate challenges and feeding into the players available resources or dramatic needs. Drama happens out of the chemistry of NPCs, PCs and stuff going on. But there isn't an set rhythm to it or an expectation that every thing that arises in the campaign has to intersect with player character's dramatic desires. Dramatic things happen. I am not afraid to deploy some drama (and I even have tables that occasionally call for things like twists or fated encounters). But the more traditional approach to play is still preserved (narrative tools are not given to the players for example). I find this approach is very rewarding for long term play and doesn't descend into the caricature of the style (mother may I). Obviously this might not be a good fit for your goals. I just think it is worth remembering not everything thinks in the terms that you and Pemerton appear to be (and not everyone embraces the concepts of G N S in their approaches to play---Since Gamism came up). There are plenty of rewarding approaches to complications that don't abide by the stuff laid out by Pemerton. One thing I am sensing here is the sense of time scale appears to be broader on your end than mine. I could be wrong, but in your example it looks like a player asks do achieve something and you are able to insert 6 obstacles. I don't know what that something is. But generally I find my players take each step in the task they are trying to perform. For example they don't respond to "What do you do?" by saying "I take over Bone Breaking Sect", rather they take the immediate step toward that goal "I go down the street to Lofty Silkworm Teahouse and look for people who might be part of Bone Breaking Sect". We tend to take things in rather small steps. I may be misreading your posts. But that could also be a factor in the different approaches working or not. [/QUOTE]
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