D&D General Playstyle vs Mechanics

[soviet]

Your players never travel to other planes of existence? Never stumble across a lost civilization? Never get thrown into some weird alternate universe and have to struggle to get back home? Talk about a lack of imagination on part of the DM.

Do they never do it twice, such that someone there might remember them? Or is it always a brand new place full of indifferent strangers every time?

 

[prabe]

Your players never travel to other planes of existence? Never stumble across a lost civilization? Never get thrown into some weird alternate universe and have to struggle to get back home? Talk about a lack of imagination on part of the DM.

As far as I know, none of the players at my tables have ever been anywhere but Earth.

As it turns out, I kinda despise situations where the player's characters are fish out of water--as both a player and a GM--so on those occasions when the PCs need (and the need arises with some regularity) to travel to other worlds or other planes the issue/s to be resolved mostly revolve around getting there.

Also, the only "lost civilization" on my primary setting world was extirpated by the gods when they arrived, to make room for their followers. As it happens, I have PCs interacting at least intermittently with some of the sites they left behind, and they look a lot like the Hopwell Culture sites in Ohio.

So ... I'm pretty sure my imagination isn't lacking, thank you for your concern.

 

[Oofta]

Since the DM came up with the scenario, it is on them to let the players know when certain features wouldn't work or would not be appropriate. Especially if the scenario is a campaign constant.

If the DM plans on doing strangers in a strange land but does not tell the players and does not warn them they are taking features/abilities that will be noped - yes, they are being a jerk.

The DM can't know everything a player might attempt. If the DM says the group is in a city they never even knew existed and the player says the message their contact and DM thought the whole "never knew existed" should have covered it I don't think the DM is a jerk by saying "No, that doesn't work because ___."

If a player is making clearly unreasonable demands, especially if they have been told so and continue to do it (like that buddies with Odin request guy you mentioned from a while back) then yes, they are being a jerk.

I've been at tables where some of the people don't seem to really pay attention to the fiction of the world or what's going on. Doesn't automatically make them a jerk, although it can.

 

[prabe]

I would be happy to have things like that operate by physics rather than game rules (or rather, game rules should operate more like physics in this case).

In the case of STR, plausibly. I'm not sure what physics would have to do with language/s, though--at least as normally applied and understood.

 

[Oofta]

Do they never do it twice, such that someone there might remember them? Or is it always a brand new place full of indifferent strangers every time?

Why does it matter? Changing the goalposts again.

 

[soviet]

This one D&D General - Playstyle vs Mechanics

Any scenario where it doesn't make sense for a message to be sent. Is a player is a jerk if they attempt to send a message. Is the DM is a jerk for saying no? Not different scenarios, exact same situation.

A player is a jerk for trying to do something when they have no reasonably held belief that it fits with the established fiction.

A GM is a jerk for rejecting reasonably initiated attempts by non-jerk players without very good reasons to do so.

 

[mamba]

I'm not sure how "you can make non-hostile contact with the local criminal underworld, just about wherever you go" is "making the non-magical world somewhat magic." It seems to me to be much more in line with a "cinematic reality."

if you keep misrepresenting the feature then you can make it appear all kinds of things…

 

[Oofta]

A player is a jerk for trying to do something when they have no reasonably held belief that it fits with the established fiction.

A GM is a jerk for rejecting reasonably initiated attempts by non-jerk players without very good reasons to do so.

Still dodging.

 

[soviet]

Why does it matter? Changing the goalposts again.

How have I changed any goalposts? I'm pointing out the artificiality of the examples (or the hollowness of your games I guess).

 

[soviet]

basically proving @Oofta ’s point…

You go from ‘my players would never use a feature if it is unreasonable’ to ‘here are ways to use it in the unreasonable situation you set up and I totally would try one or all of them (while misrepresenting the actual feature)’ in the span of a few sentences

Which offer a way for the seemingly unreasonable to maybe become reasonable