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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 8247481" data-attributes="member: 87792"><p>On the contrary. You're the one with the lack of trust. As you make entirely clear when you talk about abilities breaking your adventure.</p><p></p><p>Me, I trust my players. Which is why I am more than happy that they have tools. And I trust the game designer to give them abilities that are reasonable and not ridiculously broken (and myself to select a system where this is the case). Therefore I do not have to act with paranoia.</p><p></p><p>It's about time and effectiveness rather than trust. As a player I am more than capable of engaging with the rules - and as a DM I can trust the same for most of my players. Trust simply isn't an issue. Time and efficiency is. But it's telling that you jump to trust as a motivation.</p><p></p><p>You know one thing the DM is <em>not</em> showing? The player's character. Regardless of which side of the screen I am on in a D&D style relationship (rather than AW or Fate style) the player is the one with the player character.</p><p></p><p>If the DM is inserting himself between me and the mechanics of my character he is inserting himself between me and my character. He is getting in the way and ensuring that I take longer to do anything than if I can be confident about what I am doing because I know what the mechanics and rules of the setting are.</p><p></p><p>And as the DM my time, attention, and communication are all limited resources - and there are far more calls on my time and mental energy than anyone else's. If as the DM I am inserting myself between the player and the rules that gives me less time and mental resources to focus on the world and the interactions.</p><p></p><p>Therefore, even as a best case scenario the DM is being less effective as a DM if they are focusing on the rules for my character and I'm being slower and more aggravating as a player. This isn't trust - it's obnoxiousness. I don't <em>distrust</em> pop-ups but they are annoying and I adblock.</p><p></p><p>It's also about everyone pitching in and doing their fair share rather than either stealing all the work (and on occasion lording it over those who aren't helping) or freeloading.</p><p></p><p>I don't <em>need </em>them if I want to take up more time at the table running things past the DM and slowing both of us down while preventing the DM doing things that only the DM can do.</p><p></p><p>Why on earth would I even need to memorize all the feats and all the abilities? If I can trust the players (which I normally can) and can trust the game designer (and if I can't I play another game) then why do I need to actually know what the player side content says unless someone asks or someone makes an egregious mistake? And given that these are about specific events the rules can be looked up.</p><p></p><p>On a sidenote this is why I refuse to DM 3.X because in that system (unlike 4e or 5e) I actually need to know what random feats do because they are part of the monster statblocks. I'm unhappy with editions other than 4e because as a DM I'm supposed to at least memorise spells for spellcasting monsters even if they are nowhere near as bad as 3.X</p><p></p><p>But your comment here appears to me to stem from such a fundamental distrust of the players and/or the rules that it makes sense why you think it's all about trust not about effectiveness.</p><p></p><p>You did imply it. And have just said that you tailor your scenarios round the abilities of the specific PCs rather than running a more living world. The times I tailor encounters round the PCs are when the PCs are taking the initiative or things are being tailored to the PCs.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 8247481, member: 87792"] On the contrary. You're the one with the lack of trust. As you make entirely clear when you talk about abilities breaking your adventure. Me, I trust my players. Which is why I am more than happy that they have tools. And I trust the game designer to give them abilities that are reasonable and not ridiculously broken (and myself to select a system where this is the case). Therefore I do not have to act with paranoia. It's about time and effectiveness rather than trust. As a player I am more than capable of engaging with the rules - and as a DM I can trust the same for most of my players. Trust simply isn't an issue. Time and efficiency is. But it's telling that you jump to trust as a motivation. You know one thing the DM is [I]not[/I] showing? The player's character. Regardless of which side of the screen I am on in a D&D style relationship (rather than AW or Fate style) the player is the one with the player character. If the DM is inserting himself between me and the mechanics of my character he is inserting himself between me and my character. He is getting in the way and ensuring that I take longer to do anything than if I can be confident about what I am doing because I know what the mechanics and rules of the setting are. And as the DM my time, attention, and communication are all limited resources - and there are far more calls on my time and mental energy than anyone else's. If as the DM I am inserting myself between the player and the rules that gives me less time and mental resources to focus on the world and the interactions. Therefore, even as a best case scenario the DM is being less effective as a DM if they are focusing on the rules for my character and I'm being slower and more aggravating as a player. This isn't trust - it's obnoxiousness. I don't [I]distrust[/I] pop-ups but they are annoying and I adblock. It's also about everyone pitching in and doing their fair share rather than either stealing all the work (and on occasion lording it over those who aren't helping) or freeloading. I don't [I]need [/I]them if I want to take up more time at the table running things past the DM and slowing both of us down while preventing the DM doing things that only the DM can do. Why on earth would I even need to memorize all the feats and all the abilities? If I can trust the players (which I normally can) and can trust the game designer (and if I can't I play another game) then why do I need to actually know what the player side content says unless someone asks or someone makes an egregious mistake? And given that these are about specific events the rules can be looked up. On a sidenote this is why I refuse to DM 3.X because in that system (unlike 4e or 5e) I actually need to know what random feats do because they are part of the monster statblocks. I'm unhappy with editions other than 4e because as a DM I'm supposed to at least memorise spells for spellcasting monsters even if they are nowhere near as bad as 3.X But your comment here appears to me to stem from such a fundamental distrust of the players and/or the rules that it makes sense why you think it's all about trust not about effectiveness. You did imply it. And have just said that you tailor your scenarios round the abilities of the specific PCs rather than running a more living world. The times I tailor encounters round the PCs are when the PCs are taking the initiative or things are being tailored to the PCs. [/QUOTE]
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