So it was pointed out to me that my game has a lot of Judgement in it. That is that me alone as the DM make offical "cosmic" judgements on player characters, completely beyond the rules. It was noted that this is a thing that makes my game unique, and unlike other games. Asking a couple other GMs and they have said they don't do it.
In general, this is a thing form Fantasy games. A lot of other games are more ground in hard reality with no cosmic judgements. It's also much more of a D&D thing, as cosmic judgement is wrapped in and around alignment.
So to give the example from the game, to show what I'm talking about:
So the players are all elves trying to save their small elven kingdom caught in the middle of a dwarf orc war. They have spent the last year or so gathering power, allies, and such. The last couple of sessions they have finally tracked down one of the ancient elven weapons they have been looking for: an elfblade sword. All the PCs are fighter types, so they all want it as it's a powerful weapon. Though they all well know the elven spirits prophecy: "Only a true elf with the desire to help elven kind may weld this blade".
So right off two players, Matt and Dan, know they can never weld the blade. They are both power gamers that care little for role play, and play their characters as themselves. Jen plays a shady elf who is very much out for herself. Zoe is the true role player that loves deep role playing as an elven heroine.
So as the "elven spirits" judge the four elves, that is me as the DM, only one elf is worthy to weld the blade.
Now it's not like the players did not know that this day was comming. They have known of the prophecy for nearly a year. They have had plenty of time and plenty of chances to role play both a true elf and have a desire to help elvenkind. The three of them choose not to.
So with the above there is not much of any gray area: three players are not trying. But that is not always the case. When the judgement is "only a wizard that loves magic can read from the Great Spellbook" a player might complain that "They cast spells in every combat, so they say they love magic!"
But there is nothing for the players to do, other then meet the requirements of the judgement. Or, that is, convince me as the DM that they meet the requirements. A huge component is role playing, and plenty of players choose now to do that. And after the role playing part, the next big thing is that judgement is that it's a block for the casual players. Even a simple one like "to pass the gate, you must give up an item of value to you". The casual player will never give up anything that they, as "they play their character as themselves", hold of value. You will never see such a player toss away something like their bag of holding....
So does anyone else use such Cosmic Judgements in their games?
In general, this is a thing form Fantasy games. A lot of other games are more ground in hard reality with no cosmic judgements. It's also much more of a D&D thing, as cosmic judgement is wrapped in and around alignment.
So to give the example from the game, to show what I'm talking about:
So the players are all elves trying to save their small elven kingdom caught in the middle of a dwarf orc war. They have spent the last year or so gathering power, allies, and such. The last couple of sessions they have finally tracked down one of the ancient elven weapons they have been looking for: an elfblade sword. All the PCs are fighter types, so they all want it as it's a powerful weapon. Though they all well know the elven spirits prophecy: "Only a true elf with the desire to help elven kind may weld this blade".
So right off two players, Matt and Dan, know they can never weld the blade. They are both power gamers that care little for role play, and play their characters as themselves. Jen plays a shady elf who is very much out for herself. Zoe is the true role player that loves deep role playing as an elven heroine.
So as the "elven spirits" judge the four elves, that is me as the DM, only one elf is worthy to weld the blade.
Now it's not like the players did not know that this day was comming. They have known of the prophecy for nearly a year. They have had plenty of time and plenty of chances to role play both a true elf and have a desire to help elvenkind. The three of them choose not to.
So with the above there is not much of any gray area: three players are not trying. But that is not always the case. When the judgement is "only a wizard that loves magic can read from the Great Spellbook" a player might complain that "They cast spells in every combat, so they say they love magic!"
But there is nothing for the players to do, other then meet the requirements of the judgement. Or, that is, convince me as the DM that they meet the requirements. A huge component is role playing, and plenty of players choose now to do that. And after the role playing part, the next big thing is that judgement is that it's a block for the casual players. Even a simple one like "to pass the gate, you must give up an item of value to you". The casual player will never give up anything that they, as "they play their character as themselves", hold of value. You will never see such a player toss away something like their bag of holding....
So does anyone else use such Cosmic Judgements in their games?
