Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9651796" data-attributes="member: 42582">I stated it upthread:The post I'm quoting goes on to explain what that sort of system/framework can look like; but here I'm just quoting the bit that sets out the &quot;complaint&quot;.Applying the heuristic, have the world respond logically did not tell me what to do. It didn't tell me how the enemy faction might need to ration its resources (there are a wide range of possibilities here), what full range of magic items it would have access to (there are a wide range of possibilities here too), exactly what day they would mount their attack on (ditto), etc.I had to make decisions, and by making the input decisions I was to a large extent choosing the outcome. Upthread [USER=6747251]@Micah Sweet[/USER] suggested adopting a different, non-impartial heuristic. But I imagine I'm not the only &quot;living world&quot; GM who has found the idea of a deliberate &quot;softball&quot; a bit unsatisfying.The whole thing was a very disappointing experience.There are possible ways to avoid it. One is that the players elect not to have their PCs act boldly in pursuit of their values (in this case, by dealing with their enemy faction as they did). To me, that is not all that satisfying.Another is to find different heuristics and procedures for play. This is what I have done (mediated by the RPG systems that formalise those sorts of heuristics and procedures).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 9651796, member: 42582"] I stated it upthread: The post I'm quoting goes on to explain what that sort of system/framework can look like; but here I'm just quoting the bit that sets out the "complaint". Applying the heuristic, [I]have the world respond logically[/I] did not tell me what to do. It didn't tell me how the enemy faction might need to ration its resources (there are a wide range of possibilities here), what full range of magic items it would have access to (there are a wide range of possibilities here too), exactly what day they would mount their attack on (ditto), etc. I had to make decisions, and by making the input decisions I was to a large extent choosing the outcome. Upthread [USER=6747251]@Micah Sweet[/USER] suggested adopting a different, non-impartial heuristic. But I imagine I'm not the only "living world" GM who has found the idea of a deliberate "softball" a bit unsatisfying. The whole thing was a very disappointing experience. There are possible ways to avoid it. One is that the players elect not to have their PCs act boldly in pursuit of their values (in this case, by dealing with their enemy faction as they did). To me, that is not all that satisfying. Another is to find different heuristics and procedures for play. This is what I have done (mediated by the RPG systems that formalise those sorts of heuristics and procedures). [/QUOTE]

Verification