NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xetheral" data-source="post: 7064851" data-attributes="member: 6802765">Are you asking how I would approach answering the player's question? If so, I can't answer specifically, but I can list some of the factors I'd include when making my decision:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is the player asking the question getting sufficient spotlight time?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is the player asking the question getting too much spotlight time?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Will answering "yes" speed up or slow down play at the table, and is the current pace faster or slower than the mood of the players warrants?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is the player asking the question currently invested in the direction the players are taking the game?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Will answering "yes" decrease or increase that investment?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What answer would be consistent with details the players have learned so far?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Are both answers eqally plausible?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Does either answer let me relate back to previous details?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Does the situation (and either possible answer) provide an opportunity to roll an underused skill?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is there a way to make the answer more interesting than either yes or no?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How close are we to the end of the session?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Will my answer increase or decrease the number of extant plot threads?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Which answer will be more fun?</li> </ul>My decision process (including whether the answer was determined ahead of time or on the fly) is invisible to the players (and largely instinctual), but if players ask questions later I'm happy to explain my decision making process, often preceeded by making certain they're sure they want to know the answers.Even trusting that you were doing your best to pick fun failure consequences, knowing that those consequences were caused by my failure would be enough to be problematic for me. It would make me feel like I was playing a game rather than immersed in a fictional world, as I prefer. I want the OOC consequences of my choice to match the IC consequences of my PC's action. I don't mind if you make up the fiction as you go along (although ideally whether or not something is on-the-fly is invisible), but I certainly don't want you to do so to frustrate my intent in addition to the failed action itself. (This is, of course, only my personal playstyle preference.)I agree that it's inevitable that player knowledge won't match PC knowledge, but the difference between the two can be minimized, and some of what difference remains can be concealed or hidden. (Also, I'm primarily concerned with in-the-moment knowledge that affects decision making. I certainly don't care that the players know in the abstract that they're playing a game and that the GM is creating content.)Fine or not, the difference between knowing in the abstract that the GM is authoring content and feeling in the moment that the GM is authoring content is critically important to what I value in a roleplaying game.We're certainly coming from different backgrounds in regards to roleplaying games. Even knowing you're using broad strokes, I've not encountered any of the styles you describe. (Of course, I've also not played most of the games you've been referencing.) All the games of Vampire the Masquerade I've played in (and run), for example, have been almost entirely sandbox games, with dozens of threads to choose from and plenty of opportunity to create your own. Indeed, I've seen more VtM games suffer from decision paralysis stemming from being too open ended, rather than being too Storyteller-directed.From my standpoint, the hard work of DMing is one of the things that makes it so amazingly rewarding. Seeing the excitement and delight on your friends' faces at the end of a session is all the more satisfying knowing that it was your own doing. My style of GMing tends not to be very heavy on pre-game prep, but it's (frequently) mentally, creatively, and emotionally exhausting in play, and I like that. It's challenging and engrossing, and there's always room for improvement.For reference, while I'm frequently surprised and delighted by the direction a game takes, "playing to find out" is not one my priorities. (I was unfamiliar with the concept until this thread.) I still consider my games player-driven because the decisions of the players determine the shape of the game and I don't force them to adhere to a pre-authored sequence of events.</blockquote>

Verification