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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: 8437011" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>What happens at the table that makes it the case that <em>the PCs learn that two factions start to war</em>? How is it decided which faction is the PCs' <em>preferred </em>faction?</p><p></p><p></p><p>How is all this resolved? Who decides that the faction has information about the brother's killer?</p><p></p><p></p><p>What you've described could be a total railroad: the GM introduces the campaign with some notes about a faction war, and tells the players which faction their PCs are aligned with. The GM dictates the outcome of the social encounter, in part by deciding that <em>whatever it is the player has established their PC cares about</em>, the faction can provide it in exchange for performing the attack on the outpost.</p><p></p><p>And the railroad could continue after that: when the player has their PC go off to find the brother's killer, what scenes are framed and how are they resolved?</p><p></p><p>I'm not saying that it is a railroad - because all you're describing is fiction, and fiction that is not wildly different from the DL modules, which are widely regarded as railroads, I can't tell.</p><p></p><p></p><p>That is not <em>situation</em> as I am using the term - ie as a rough synonym for <em>scene</em>, that is, an immediate fictional context which calls the players to declare actions for their PCs. (More succinctly, <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/2/" target="_blank">per Ron Edwards</a>: <em>Situation: a problem or circumstance faced by the character.</em>)</p><p></p><p>The world "going on" without the characters is the GM authoring more setting/backstory behind the scenes and from time to time revealing that to the players, either as colour (<em>As you walk down the street, you see the shops are all boarded up to protect against violence - the faction war seems to be getting worse, not better</em>) or as part of framing a scene/situation (<em>As you walk down the street, you see one of the faction couriers coming towards you - from the look on her face, you can see she's about to ask you for a favour!</em>).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Everything here seems to me to turn on backstory. And in the example you provided, it is the GM, playing the faction NPCs, who established the actual focus of play: <em>raiding the outpost</em>. It is also the GM who established the situation:<em> the faction offer information if you agree to raid the outpost</em>.</p><p></p><p></p><p>No RPG can get to action resolution without character and situation. The issue isn't whether they're <em>present</em>, but which has priority.</p><p></p><p>In reading what you have described, I am seeing a set-up in which the GM's pre-authored backstory/setting, and the revelation of that through framing and action resolution, is central in shaping th fiction. It is not situation-first. A situation-first setup is something like the Burning Wheel excerpt I'm pretty sure I posted not too far upthread: the situation comes first, and the backstory flows out of framing and consequence narration rather than into it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8437011, member: 42582"] What happens at the table that makes it the case that [I]the PCs learn that two factions start to war[/I]? How is it decided which faction is the PCs' [I]preferred [/I]faction? How is all this resolved? Who decides that the faction has information about the brother's killer? What you've described could be a total railroad: the GM introduces the campaign with some notes about a faction war, and tells the players which faction their PCs are aligned with. The GM dictates the outcome of the social encounter, in part by deciding that [I]whatever it is the player has established their PC cares about[/I], the faction can provide it in exchange for performing the attack on the outpost. And the railroad could continue after that: when the player has their PC go off to find the brother's killer, what scenes are framed and how are they resolved? I'm not saying that it is a railroad - because all you're describing is fiction, and fiction that is not wildly different from the DL modules, which are widely regarded as railroads, I can't tell. That is not [I]situation[/I] as I am using the term - ie as a rough synonym for [I]scene[/I], that is, an immediate fictional context which calls the players to declare actions for their PCs. (More succinctly, [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/2/]per Ron Edwards[/url]: [I]Situation: a problem or circumstance faced by the character.[/I]) The world "going on" without the characters is the GM authoring more setting/backstory behind the scenes and from time to time revealing that to the players, either as colour ([I]As you walk down the street, you see the shops are all boarded up to protect against violence - the faction war seems to be getting worse, not better[/I]) or as part of framing a scene/situation ([I]As you walk down the street, you see one of the faction couriers coming towards you - from the look on her face, you can see she's about to ask you for a favour![/I]). Everything here seems to me to turn on backstory. And in the example you provided, it is the GM, playing the faction NPCs, who established the actual focus of play: [I]raiding the outpost[/I]. It is also the GM who established the situation:[I] the faction offer information if you agree to raid the outpost[/I]. No RPG can get to action resolution without character and situation. The issue isn't whether they're [I]present[/I], but which has priority. In reading what you have described, I am seeing a set-up in which the GM's pre-authored backstory/setting, and the revelation of that through framing and action resolution, is central in shaping th fiction. It is not situation-first. A situation-first setup is something like the Burning Wheel excerpt I'm pretty sure I posted not too far upthread: the situation comes first, and the backstory flows out of framing and consequence narration rather than into it. [/QUOTE]
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