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Respect Mah Authoritah: Thoughts on DM and Player Authority in 5e
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8436546" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p><em>Immersion</em> is a psychological state. It is an empirical question whether, in any given moment of play, it is or is not being experienced.</p><p></p><p>In my GMing of 4e, I frequently conveyed mechanical information about antagonists to the players, because one of the PCs was a very learned scholar, and the player of that PC would frequently declare, and succeed, at monster knowledge checks, which - per the rules of the game - obliged me to convey certain mechanical information. (Roughly, powers and special abilities, but not defences or hit points.)</p><p></p><p>My experience of this is that it did not hinder immersion. It enhanced it, by putting the players into a cognitive and emotional space comparable to that of their PCs - eg confidence, or trepidation, depending on the information that I conveyed.</p><p></p><p>[USER=16814]@Ovinomancer[/USER] has explained, quite nicely, why this is the case:</p><p></p><p>I am going to elaborate by first mentioning three easy examples, and then one of the most evocative 4e creatures I GM'ed.</p><p></p><p>Easy examples:</p><p></p><p>Goblins and kobolds are tricky underfoot, and hard to pin down. In mechanical terms, kobolds are <em>shifty</em>: they can shift 1 square as a minor action. They are able to manoeuvre and position themselves to advantage, proactively. Goblins have their <em>tactics</em>: as an immediate reaction, when missed by a melee attach, they can shift 1 square. They are able to manoeuvre and position reactively.</p><p></p><p>As a GM, I don't need to <em>narrate</em> that these guys are scurrying about underfoot and hard to pin down. It is manifest in play - both the scurrying (because they are moving) and the hardness to pin down (because <em>shift </em>means that regular consequences of moving, including opportunity attacks, are not enlivened).</p><p></p><p>Hobgoblins fight shoulder-to-shoulder in phalanxes. This is reflected in the AC bonus they receive when fighting with another hobgoblin ally adjacent.</p><p></p><p>Evocative example:</p><p></p><p>The 4e MM3 has a creature called a Chained Cambion. Here is some of its flavour text (p 25):</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Wrapped in chains, . . . a chained cambion radiates pain, rage and frustration. . . . The chains act as a conduit to a cambion's tortured psyche . . . A chained cambion screams its despair within the minds of nearby foes.</p><p></p><p>And here is one of its abilities:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong>Mind shackles </strong>(psychic; recharge when first bloodied) <em>Effect</em>: Two enemies adjacent to each other in a close burst 5 are psychically shackled (save ends; each enemy makes a separate saving throw against this effect). While psychically shackled, an enemy takes 10 psychic damage at the start and end of its turn if it isn't adjacent to the other creature that was affected by this power. <em>Aftereffect</em>: The effect persists, and the damage decreases to 5 (save ends).</p><p></p><p>The effect of this ability is that the players of the two shackled characters (and thus their PCs) become frustrated, as they must manoeuvre together or else suffer a non-trivial amount of damage. And when one saves but the other hasn't yet, the frustration only grows and becomes asymmetric, tempting one of the players to have their PC abandon the other.</p><p></p><p>I have seen this ability in play. It is extremely immersive, far more than the narration of the flavour text.</p><p></p><p>This is how 4e works: it uses the mechanical features of the game to establish and convey a shared fiction. Not every published attempt at this is as strong as the best examples. Some are interesting but in the end a bit too abstract and disconnected (eg the Pact Hag, also in MM3). On the whole, though, it's a distinctive and in my view pretty successful approach to FRPG design.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8436546, member: 42582"] [I]Immersion[/I] is a psychological state. It is an empirical question whether, in any given moment of play, it is or is not being experienced. In my GMing of 4e, I frequently conveyed mechanical information about antagonists to the players, because one of the PCs was a very learned scholar, and the player of that PC would frequently declare, and succeed, at monster knowledge checks, which - per the rules of the game - obliged me to convey certain mechanical information. (Roughly, powers and special abilities, but not defences or hit points.) My experience of this is that it did not hinder immersion. It enhanced it, by putting the players into a cognitive and emotional space comparable to that of their PCs - eg confidence, or trepidation, depending on the information that I conveyed. [USER=16814]@Ovinomancer[/USER] has explained, quite nicely, why this is the case: I am going to elaborate by first mentioning three easy examples, and then one of the most evocative 4e creatures I GM'ed. Easy examples: Goblins and kobolds are tricky underfoot, and hard to pin down. In mechanical terms, kobolds are [I]shifty[/I]: they can shift 1 square as a minor action. They are able to manoeuvre and position themselves to advantage, proactively. Goblins have their [I]tactics[/I]: as an immediate reaction, when missed by a melee attach, they can shift 1 square. They are able to manoeuvre and position reactively. As a GM, I don't need to [I]narrate[/I] that these guys are scurrying about underfoot and hard to pin down. It is manifest in play - both the scurrying (because they are moving) and the hardness to pin down (because [I]shift [/I]means that regular consequences of moving, including opportunity attacks, are not enlivened). Hobgoblins fight shoulder-to-shoulder in phalanxes. This is reflected in the AC bonus they receive when fighting with another hobgoblin ally adjacent. Evocative example: The 4e MM3 has a creature called a Chained Cambion. Here is some of its flavour text (p 25): [INDENT]Wrapped in chains, . . . a chained cambion radiates pain, rage and frustration. . . . The chains act as a conduit to a cambion's tortured psyche . . . A chained cambion screams its despair within the minds of nearby foes.[/INDENT] And here is one of its abilities: [INDENT][B]Mind shackles [/B](psychic; recharge when first bloodied) [I]Effect[/I]: Two enemies adjacent to each other in a close burst 5 are psychically shackled (save ends; each enemy makes a separate saving throw against this effect). While psychically shackled, an enemy takes 10 psychic damage at the start and end of its turn if it isn't adjacent to the other creature that was affected by this power. [I]Aftereffect[/I]: The effect persists, and the damage decreases to 5 (save ends).[/INDENT] The effect of this ability is that the players of the two shackled characters (and thus their PCs) become frustrated, as they must manoeuvre together or else suffer a non-trivial amount of damage. And when one saves but the other hasn't yet, the frustration only grows and becomes asymmetric, tempting one of the players to have their PC abandon the other. I have seen this ability in play. It is extremely immersive, far more than the narration of the flavour text. This is how 4e works: it uses the mechanical features of the game to establish and convey a shared fiction. Not every published attempt at this is as strong as the best examples. Some are interesting but in the end a bit too abstract and disconnected (eg the Pact Hag, also in MM3). On the whole, though, it's a distinctive and in my view pretty successful approach to FRPG design. [/QUOTE]
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