Is "GM Agency" A Thing?

[Reynard]

They do, though. What the PCs look at is what’s in play. If the PCs aren’t involved, then nothing is happening with those NPCs. When they disappear from view, you can use any method you like to determine what’s happened in the interim, but it’s all abstracted.

Not unless you do the equivalent of cut scenes that don’t include the PCs.

I don't think anyone is calling for a "NPC session." The idea I'd that the world keeps turning even if the PCs decide not to engage. As it should be.

 

[Umbran]

Pretty sure that's the Necronumnumicon.

It is

Spoiler: The Necronomnomnom

I recommend the Shogghoulash, the Fate of the Elder Things, and the In-Bread Pudding.

 

[Maxperson]

It is

Spoiler: The Necronomnomnom

View attachment 295608

I recommend the Shogghoulash, the Fate of the Elder Things, and the In-Bread Pudding.

That was fantastic.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I don't think anyone is calling for a "NPC session." The idea I'd that the world keeps turning even if the PCs decide not to engage. As it should be.

But what does “keep turning” mean?

For me, it might mean I simply decide what happened in the interim.

For you, it might mean a series of rolls on tables or some other procedure.

There appears to be a potential world of difference between those two methods such that summarizing them both as “the world keeps turning” seems ill suited.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They do, though. What the PCs look at is what’s in play. If the PCs aren’t involved, then nothing is happening with those NPCs. When they disappear from view, you can use any method you like to determine what’s happened in the interim, but it’s all abstracted.

Not unless you do the equivalent of cut scenes that don’t include the PCs.

If you say so.

 

[hawkeyefan]

If you say so.

To quote the White Stripes “You can’t take the effect and make it the cause!”

It’s not true because I say so… I say so because it’s true!

 

[Lanefan]

Put it another way. Who played out Acererak becoming a Demi-lich?

Played out? Probably nobody.

But if the PCs ever want to dig into how Acererak became a Demi-lich then the DM will eventually need to know how it happened, and when.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Played out? Probably nobody.

But if the PCs ever want to dig into how Acererak became a Demi-lich then the DM will eventually need to know how it happened, and when.

Or he could just tell them they discover nothing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Or he could just tell them they discover nothing.

That sounds like a cop-out to me. If a player asks a question about the world, and that question should have an answer, then it's the DMs job to figure out what it is so that information is available.

 

[Lanefan]

Or he could just tell them they discover nothing.

Perhaps, but that sounds like the boring option.