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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7072938" data-attributes="member: 29398">Doesn't matter if the card shark is dealing off the top or bottom: if the resulting hand is fair for all involved the experience is exactly the same.Maybe I'm misreading this, but how can something matter to you if you don't know what it is?If you're the DM what goes on behind your screen - or how, or why - is none of my business as a player.&nbsp; I'd expect the same courtesy in return were the positions reversed.&nbsp; Therefore, you in theory have no way of knowing any processes that go into the game you're playing other than those I-as-DM might reveal.So characters in your games never find themselves with nothing pressing?&nbsp; Never get a chance to take some downtime and then decide what to do next?&nbsp; Never get a chance to step back and look at the big picture?&nbsp; Hell, that all sounds way more DM-driven than anything I run.Er...in order to choose which elements to engage don't they first need to find out what elements might be out there awaiting engagement?&nbsp; And the only way to do that is to...wait for it...ask!Of course it's vulnerable to this sort of thing - that's what player agency is all about, which is the very thing you've been arguing for all the way along!If a character's next logical in-character move is to do something that takes it out of the party, then out it goes.&nbsp; I've role-played myself out of many a party in the past.If a single PC decides to pack it in and become a local magistrate, or take over the local mercenaries' guild, that's just fine - the PC retires from adventuring (and the player either already has a replacement or rolls one up, assuming she is staying in the game) and at some point we'll update it to see how its magisterial or mercenary career might be going.If the party as a whole decide out of the blue to chuck in with Baron Larchwood then I've got to be ready to DM that, wherever it might go.&nbsp; In fact, one thing that separates a good DM from a bad one is the ability to hit those sort of curveballs.Lan-&quot;next man up&quot;-efan</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7072938, member: 29398"] Doesn't matter if the card shark is dealing off the top or bottom: if the resulting hand is fair for all involved the experience is exactly the same. Maybe I'm misreading this, but how can something matter to you if you don't know what it is? If you're the DM what goes on behind your screen - or how, or why - is none of my business as a player. I'd expect the same courtesy in return were the positions reversed. Therefore, you in theory have no way of knowing any processes that go into the game you're playing other than those I-as-DM might reveal. So characters in your games never find themselves with nothing pressing? Never get a chance to take some downtime and then decide what to do next? Never get a chance to step back and look at the big picture? Hell, that all sounds way more DM-driven than anything I run. Er...in order to choose which elements to engage don't they first need to find out what elements might be out there awaiting engagement? And the only way to do that is to...wait for it...ask! Of course it's vulnerable to this sort of thing - that's what player agency is all about, which is the very thing you've been arguing for all the way along! If a character's next logical in-character move is to do something that takes it out of the party, then out it goes. I've role-played myself out of many a party in the past. If a single PC decides to pack it in and become a local magistrate, or take over the local mercenaries' guild, that's just fine - the PC retires from adventuring (and the player either already has a replacement or rolls one up, assuming she is staying in the game) and at some point we'll update it to see how its magisterial or mercenary career might be going. If the party as a whole decide out of the blue to chuck in with Baron Larchwood then I've got to be ready to DM that, wherever it might go. In fact, one thing that separates a good DM from a bad one is the ability to hit those sort of curveballs. Lan-"next man up"-efan [/QUOTE]

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