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
*Dungeons & Dragons
Respect Mah Authoritah: Thoughts on DM and Player Authority in 5e
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="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8436358" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>I think what you're asking is "what about 4e makes it not conducive to a GM just imposing a metaplot upon the game?"</p><p></p><p>A host of them:</p><p></p><p>1) The game is overwhelmingly table-facing and transparent. The more a game is table-facing and transparent, the more difficult it becomes to impose metaplot.</p><p></p><p>2) Conveying win conditions in combat and the way the mechanics robustly work to facilitate is a huge factor. To wit:</p><p></p><p>"You're on a big lake. The little girl and her father are on a flatboat fishing when they're attacked by a big kraken like monster with huge tentacles. The father is a Standard Soldier w/ x Defender abilities (show the players) and this 1xEncounter protection ability for his daughter. His daughter is a Minion with this "Get Tiny" At-Will ability that lets her escape trouble. The Tentacles are all Minions. The Monster is a Solo. If you are able to protect the daughter (and possibly the father) long enough to defeat the monster (ablate the Solo HPs while you protect the daughter and maybe father) or get them out of the lake (a Skill Challenge), then you succeed at saving the daughter and possibly father."</p><p></p><p>Subsequent situation framing will be contingent upon what happens on the lake:</p><p></p><p>Did they rescue the daughter?</p><p></p><p>Did they rescue the daughter and the father?</p><p></p><p>Did they rescue just the father?</p><p></p><p>Did they rescue no one?</p><p></p><p>Who is this father/daughter combo (perhaps a subsequent social conflict will render them important to player goals and either helpful or an adversary?...perhaps what happened on the lake will reorient the players' relationship with a group or an ideology that they were in a particular orientation toward prior to the lake's events?).</p><p></p><p>3) Skill Challenges (the conflict resolution mechanics + the GMing Principles that undergird play; Fail Forward, Intent/Goal Changing of the Situation (after each moment of action resolution), Honor Success (if they achieve their goal subsequent framing is constrained by that) are transparent in both machinery and ethos/technique.</p><p></p><p>4) Player-authored Quests and Theme/Paragon Path/Epic Destiny drive play.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Put that all together and its straight-forward. </p><p></p><p>* Its HARD to railroad a game. Its EASY to not. Its REWARDING to run a completely No Myth Story Now game.</p><p></p><p>* If its more difficult to railroad a game (particularly because of the intersection of 1 and 3 and 4 above) and rewarding and easier to run a No Myth Story Now game...<em><strong>why would someone do the opposite!</strong></em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8436358, member: 6696971"] I think what you're asking is "what about 4e makes it not conducive to a GM just imposing a metaplot upon the game?" A host of them: 1) The game is overwhelmingly table-facing and transparent. The more a game is table-facing and transparent, the more difficult it becomes to impose metaplot. 2) Conveying win conditions in combat and the way the mechanics robustly work to facilitate is a huge factor. To wit: "You're on a big lake. The little girl and her father are on a flatboat fishing when they're attacked by a big kraken like monster with huge tentacles. The father is a Standard Soldier w/ x Defender abilities (show the players) and this 1xEncounter protection ability for his daughter. His daughter is a Minion with this "Get Tiny" At-Will ability that lets her escape trouble. The Tentacles are all Minions. The Monster is a Solo. If you are able to protect the daughter (and possibly the father) long enough to defeat the monster (ablate the Solo HPs while you protect the daughter and maybe father) or get them out of the lake (a Skill Challenge), then you succeed at saving the daughter and possibly father." Subsequent situation framing will be contingent upon what happens on the lake: Did they rescue the daughter? Did they rescue the daughter and the father? Did they rescue just the father? Did they rescue no one? Who is this father/daughter combo (perhaps a subsequent social conflict will render them important to player goals and either helpful or an adversary?...perhaps what happened on the lake will reorient the players' relationship with a group or an ideology that they were in a particular orientation toward prior to the lake's events?). 3) Skill Challenges (the conflict resolution mechanics + the GMing Principles that undergird play; Fail Forward, Intent/Goal Changing of the Situation (after each moment of action resolution), Honor Success (if they achieve their goal subsequent framing is constrained by that) are transparent in both machinery and ethos/technique. 4) Player-authored Quests and Theme/Paragon Path/Epic Destiny drive play. Put that all together and its straight-forward. * Its HARD to railroad a game. Its EASY to not. Its REWARDING to run a completely No Myth Story Now game. * If its more difficult to railroad a game (particularly because of the intersection of 1 and 3 and 4 above) and rewarding and easier to run a No Myth Story Now game...[I][B]why would someone do the opposite![/B][/I] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Respect Mah Authoritah: Thoughts on DM and Player Authority in 5e
Top