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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 7005149" data-attributes="member: 6696971">Just a quick post for clarification because it seems like we're still misfiring on the difference between "objective" and "subjective" when it comes to TTRPG resolution mechanics:Subjective:1)  4e DMG2 page 63Notice how this mechanically scales with the heroes (from DC to attack, to damage).  The fiction of this wall will be reskinned as you move through the tiers to coincide with the sort of battlefield objects that heroes will be encountering as the tiers progress.  Notice that it can (and has in one of my 4e games) easily be entirely refluffed as a tree!2)  Skill Challenge Framing, Action Declaration, and Resolution:This is an endgame Dungeon World game that was played with 4e for the next wee bit.  In fiction and mechanically, this is a mid-Epic Tier 4e Skill Challenge.  What this means is:a)  The urgency of the situation is maximal.  The PCs have hours at most to reach the refugees before they are overcome.b)  The mountaintop environment is akin to the most remote and inhospitable environment on earth.c)  The sheer, perilous, precipitous nature of the climb down would take the greatest mountaineers (who aren't Epic heroes) in the world a multi-staged, days-spanning climb.d)  The PCs must face obstacles many times more malevolent than deep cold, slick ice, and treacherous slope (a horde of recently-turned aberrations and sentient mutagenic mists).That is the only sort of action they will face at this point of play.  The subjective peril they face (the fundamental maths of the epic tier of play and the attendant fiction) they face is based on who they are (the two protagonists).  A High DC for them is 37 at level 24.  Not 29 or 21 as they are at 14 (Paragon) and 4 (Herioc) respectively.  The Ranger Saerie can use the broad descriptor Daily of Nature's Rage to call upon the fury of the wild (this is not magic by the way) to aid their impossible descent.  And it will answer.  Because of who she is (one of two protagonists).  This play is not about fidelity to objectively parameterizing a fantasy world model, hitting the execute button, and watching the simulation unfold as we play.3)  A Barbarian in Dungeon World has the Herculean Appetite of "Pure Destruction":The same Barbarian has these two moves:In Dungeon World, the GM frames scenes around a very specific Agenda.  The GM follows the rules and procedures, observes the GMing principles, and makes moves against the PCs accordingly.  The players roll all the dice.  In Dungeon World, Ogres take things by force, fly into rages, and destroy things with their amazing size and strength:So the PCs come upon a band of Ogres who have laired in a stand of trees near a major trade route (of course).  The Chieftain offers them their lives if they give up all their wealth and perhaps a tasty limb to sweeten the deal.  The PCs refuse.  The Ogre Chieftain knocks over a tree on them.  The Barbarian, unimpressed, meets the chieftans rage with his own appetite for destruction.  He declares he is Defying Danger (obviously the falling tree) with Strength.  He is going to catch it and heave it back the way it came.  ALL of the DW follows the basic resolution mechanics of roll 2d6 + modifier (-1 to +3).  There are 3 possible results (these would be the equivalent of subjective DCs); 10+ and you get what you want, 7-9 and you get what you want with a worse outcome, a hard bargain, or an ugly choice, a 6- and things don't go well for you (I make what is called a Hard Move) but you Mark 1 XP.Barbarian rolls his dice and gets a 10+, but the d6 is the higher of the pair (the other being the bumped up d8 for Herculean Appetite).  The player gets what they want, but I have to escalate the fiction with a complication or a danger.  I <a href="http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com/gamemastering/#Show_signs_of_an_approaching_threat" target="_blank">show signs of an approaching threat </a>.  The band of Ogres reveal themselves and wade in from the dark recesses of the stand of trees.  Uh oh.However.My Love For You Is Like a Truck, remember?  The Chieftan is impressed.  More than a little.  Take +1 to Parley.  Parley ensues.  The now fearful chieftan acquiesces with a successful social move, perhaps with some sort of condition.  The Ogre Chieftan maybe saves a little face.  He definitely saves his skin (and he knows it).  But he is definitely diminished in the eyes of his band.Triggering at the end of session:What Is Best In LifeAt the end of a session, if during this session you have crushed your enemies, seen them driven before you, or have heard the lamentations of their kinfolk mark XP.[HR][/HR]So what are subjective resolution mechanics not?  They're not:* Granular hex scaling from wilderness > province > kingdom > continent (and PC build mechanics that interact on this level such that the spatial units are expected to be relevant to action resolution).* Granular time tracking that involves making note of days passed so you for planned critical events from a metaplot.* An Ability Check system predicated upon natural language descriptors that correlate to the objective world experience as assessed by "everyman" (or low level character).* A DC system that involves objectively set DCs for hazards and environmental exposure events that granularly increase by 1 per unit (temporal or spatial) of exposure.* Damage expressions that are pre-correlated to fiction for you (rather than you doing the correlation yourself); "being struck by lightning," "stumbling into a vat of acid", "hit by whirling steel blades," "tumbling into a vortex of fire on the Elemental Plane of Fire."</blockquote>

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