Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
numerera GM intrusions: help me get it
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="evilbob" data-source="post: 6209408" data-attributes="member: 9789"><p>For me, the XP reward for intrusions - which is there to "soften" the blow - just seems like a conciliatory excuse for the GM to be a jerk. I'm sure the main issue here is the "sudden unexpected bad turn of events" - i.e. what an intrusion basically is - is something that I find especially icky thanks to witnessing some GM abuse of this sort of power in the past. It's really difficult for me to wrap my head around how this could be a positive thing, even indirectly (you fall down a hole - but find a new tunnel!). It's especially difficult to think about doing that so often that nearly half the PC's XP comes from intrusions. If one sudden, unexpected bad turn of events happened every hour to my group of friends, I'd believe the world we lived in was fickle and cruel, not interesting and fun. And knowing that a person - the GM - was responsible for those things, and not just random chance: it's hard to imagine wanting to game with that person.</p><p></p><p>I know this is supposed to be "balanced" by the reward - each sudden bad turn of events should lead to two rerolls, or one new skill, or something along those lines - but it feels like the numbers wouldn't be nearly enough in the "good" column to justify the bad. I heard somewhere once that if 3+ positive experiences happen for every 1 negative experience (a ratio), it improves your mood and outlook on life. GM intrusions feel like they'd be upsetting that ratio. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Also, looking back over the combat suggestions in the bestiary, nearly all of those feel pretty "cheap." Most of them could be summarized as "the enemy gets a free attack" or maybe does more damage. If something like that happens when I roll a 1, that still feels much more "acceptable." Just happening to happen seems frustrating.</p><p></p><p>In the end, I feel this comes down to a personal preference on my part and a style of play that I just don't understand. I think talking things out in this thread has been helpful, though. I feel like my best resolution is to just minimize intrusions and go with the "extra XP for discoveries" idea.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="evilbob, post: 6209408, member: 9789"] For me, the XP reward for intrusions - which is there to "soften" the blow - just seems like a conciliatory excuse for the GM to be a jerk. I'm sure the main issue here is the "sudden unexpected bad turn of events" - i.e. what an intrusion basically is - is something that I find especially icky thanks to witnessing some GM abuse of this sort of power in the past. It's really difficult for me to wrap my head around how this could be a positive thing, even indirectly (you fall down a hole - but find a new tunnel!). It's especially difficult to think about doing that so often that nearly half the PC's XP comes from intrusions. If one sudden, unexpected bad turn of events happened every hour to my group of friends, I'd believe the world we lived in was fickle and cruel, not interesting and fun. And knowing that a person - the GM - was responsible for those things, and not just random chance: it's hard to imagine wanting to game with that person. I know this is supposed to be "balanced" by the reward - each sudden bad turn of events should lead to two rerolls, or one new skill, or something along those lines - but it feels like the numbers wouldn't be nearly enough in the "good" column to justify the bad. I heard somewhere once that if 3+ positive experiences happen for every 1 negative experience (a ratio), it improves your mood and outlook on life. GM intrusions feel like they'd be upsetting that ratio. :) Also, looking back over the combat suggestions in the bestiary, nearly all of those feel pretty "cheap." Most of them could be summarized as "the enemy gets a free attack" or maybe does more damage. If something like that happens when I roll a 1, that still feels much more "acceptable." Just happening to happen seems frustrating. In the end, I feel this comes down to a personal preference on my part and a style of play that I just don't understand. I think talking things out in this thread has been helpful, though. I feel like my best resolution is to just minimize intrusions and go with the "extra XP for discoveries" idea. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
numerera GM intrusions: help me get it
Top