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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7108598" data-attributes="member: 29398">An area which, I must assume from what you say here, is crawling with orcs.Which is right there exercising authority over resolution outcomes, or so it appears.Your check failed and produced a complication.  As a resolution the DM could just as easily have complicated things on your failure by having part of the homestead collapse on you or close to you; or have your search kick up an ember and set the place on fire; or have a militia patrol pass by and accuse you of looting or trespassing; or...   But instead you got orcs, closer than you'd have liked, because that's what the DM chose.And there's nothing at all wrong with this - it could happen in any game, any system - but please recognize it for what it is: the DM driving the story.That you've no idea as a player whether those orcs were going to show up anyway; whether the DM had it in his notes (or in his mind) that there's a band of orcs right near that homestead which will attack you no matter what you do; or whether they're a spur-of-the-moment creation.  And again, this is all good - just recognize it for the illusion that it may or may not be.Now you might know your particular DM well enough to assume he'd not do anything illusory...which is fine for you but says nothing on a broader scale, so from this distance I can only generalize.Your post went into great mechanical detail about exactly how the fiction was mechanically established, rendering the role-playing rather moot.Had your play report simply amounted to "Encountered Elf noble on road - asked him for aid and assistance with clearing out my homestead - noble too busy and en route Celene so declined request", that would tell me nothing at all about how the encounter actually went or was played out / resolved.Yeah, I've always seen combat resolution and social resolution as two completely different animals; mostly because while we as players/DMs can't swing swords or chop each other up we can talk, and think, and role-play.  Even though I run a 1e-based game I'm not sure if I've rolled 5 reaction rolls or loyalty checks in total over the last year or more.  I rarely use them, and when I do it's almost always because I as DM just can't make up my mind on the spot how character X or monster Y would react to something.Morale checks I see as an extension of combat resolution.That's not what I mean.In any game system, if your character has a belief* or goal* of, say, "I will avenge my fallen family and reclaim my homestead"** then as the campaign goes along you're reasonably going to want to see yourself making some progress on this, right?  Investigating what happened, learning who the killers or raiders were, tracking them down, taking them out, then forcing out whatever's living in your old homestead...that sort of thing.  But if the campaign leads you in different directions (let's say another character's goal is deemed more important and immediate - or even just more interesting - by the party) and you end up doing most of your adventuring in a different country, that goal that you still have is getting further away.  The trail's gone cold, the people who might have had answers for you are harder to find and-or dead, etc.* - maybe or maybe not reflected in any game mechanics, depending on system.** - in a 3e game I played a character with this goal, and watched it get further and further away over several adventures until my character eventually left the party and went it alone.And before you say something like "it's up to the DM to involve everyone's goals and beliefs in the game", think about this: the DM might not have much choice.Let's say I'm playing a character in a party of three.  My goal/belief is something long-term and can wait ("I am destined to become king of Althasia"); the goals/beliefs of the other two are somewhat more immediate (how about "I will reclaim my ancestral homestead before my newborn son turns three" for character one [PC-1] and "to succeed where my dying sister failed by sailing across the Axenos to speak with the Oracle at Kampai" for character two [PC-2]). (for sake of simplicity and discussion these are pretty basic goals/beliefs)Character background and DM or player generated info tells us that PC-1's homestead is a little to the east of where we are; the Axenos that PC-2 wants to cross is a small-ish sea to the west, and in my background I've said my goal involves the neighbouring realm to the north which the DM then names Althasia.Now, let's say we're just meeting for the first time - neophyte adventurers with big ideas and small abilities - and we spend an evening in a tavern or around a campfire talking and musing about our life goals; and we all learn each others' goals/beliefs as noted above.  We more or less agree to help each other out.  I tell them my goal can wait - it's destiny, it's gonna happen no matter what (at least that's what I believe!) - but it soon becomes obvious we can't really pursue the other two goals simultaneously as they'll eventually require - literally - going in different directions.Logic would say we see to the homestead first as it's closer, then go visit the Oracle.  But what if my character - who in effect has the deciding vote - on hearing about this Oracle realizes perhaps I ought to go see her as well and the sooner the better, and thus we end up deciding to cross the Axenos first?  PC-1's goal hasn't changed...but that homestead and any hope of achieving that goal is about to get a lot further away both in time and distance.And note that since we met at the tavern/campfire the DM has had no input whatsoever.  This is all player-in-character stuff; with the DM standing by waiting for us to decide where we're going while wondering how on earth she can involve PC-1's goals/beliefs in any of what's about to happen.If Aramina's your hench, and thus in effect your character, interactions between you two come down to you as player talking to yourself.  The interaction examples would be far better served were Aramina someone else's PC that you had to persuade/interact with, as that presents a completely different dynamic.Lan-"three characters to the wind"-efan</blockquote>

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