COMING SOON! -- Presents for Goblins: Festive Resources for 5E on Kickstarter! A festive softcover of holiday-themed D&D 5E resources, including the short adventure 'Presents for Goblins'.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GrahamWills" data-source="post: 7632620" data-attributes="member: 75787">Heh. I guess we have fundamentally different ideas about what a GM does. For me if you say "I need mechanics for everything the GM controls which affects my character" that is the same as saying "I need mechanics for everything" -- or at least everything that matters.I mean, what else does a GM do, but adjudicate what happens to your character? Anything which does not affect anyone's character at all is pretty much irrelevant, so outside of that, everything the GM does is controlling your character's destiny. Does the orc attack you? She's controlling your destiny. Does the city of Fuzit elect a mayor who will outlaw your class? She's controlling your destiny. Does the maiden's wink melt your heart?  She's controlling your destiny. Does she roll on the random-monster table when you rest in the 10'x10' room?  She's controlling your destiny.I think what you are arguing is that there are some aspects of your character you would like only you to have control over. Which is fine -- that's certainly true for me and my characters. And I also understand that a very common default set of such aspects is "those aspects which D&D does not have rules for", which is also fine. But it's by no means universal. And it's not even going to be the same for the same people in different games.D&D has lots of rules for how characters react to physical stimuli and virtually none to how they react to emotional or social stimuli. Even when it has rules, they are asymmetric -- the wandering monster does not get YOU to role on the reaction table, and that's likely because the game is all about the physical and goes freeform for social and emotional issues. But that's the genre, not a universal truth. In a genre about courtly romance, the GM might set the scene by saying "the wink of a maiden melts your heart" setting up a social conflict where you want to win her approval while not alienating your fiancee. She's putting you in emotional danger just as a D&D GM puts characters in physical danger by calling for initiative.</blockquote>

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