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
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: 8437619" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>Let me just say that I find it very...curious...and interesting...and a host of other things that the framing of the father + daughter + boat + mouth of river into bay + tentacle sea monster is a problem because "so much established fiction (literally just those things 5 scene tags were established) makes it impossible to surprise players (or the GM)."</p><p></p><p>The premise of the game is that the Ranger was a Ghost of the Past theme. We (neither the player nor myself) knew who she was or where she was or what was going on; effectively her existence was unknown to her. She only had a singular memory (in Backstory below). This is what she gave me to start the game. She authored a little backstory, set some themes, and authored a Kicker (an opening scene rife with conflict) and we took it from the point of her scene framing. This is basically the start of the game (where her consciousness emerges and we begin the journey of finding out who this character is):</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Everything from that point forward was the play of the game letting us both (player and GM) be surprised by and collectively discover who the PC was and what the hell is going on here.</p><p></p><p>The scene on the bay? All we knew at that point was what had transpired up to that point:</p><p></p><p>* There were supernatural creatures/cults absconding with children from somewhere and a terrible ritual sacrifice. </p><p></p><p>* She saved these children from said sacrifice and learned a little bit about things; something terrible haunts this world...some kind of supernatural apocalypse (lycanthropy or something). The children were small enough that they didn't know where they were or where they were from. They were captured some time ago from varying villages that don't stray from their walls. A few were from a bay/river village (so she decided to find a river and follow it). </p><p></p><p>* Like The Road by Cormac McCarthy, all adults were proving dangerous or dangerously suspicious/protective (again, this turned into sort of a supernatural aftermath game as play wore on). Social interactions were fraught (at best). </p><p></p><p>* The physical world was violent and dangerous (benign topography as well as she was up in a precarious mountain domain with landslides and rushing rivers leading precipitously downward into a bay), with actual primal spirits, wicked fey, cults, and frightened humanoid communities besetting/accosting living things.</p><p></p><p></p><p>So she navigated several conflicts (including finding a place to safely stow these children while she journeys for help and to orient her to where she is and who she is). The rushing river hazard conflict ends and she filters out on the bay where the village is alleged to be. </p><p></p><p>The number of questions about this little girl and the father are endless. Who are they? Are they from the village that I'm looking for? Will they welcome me or rebuff me (particularly given the world). Does this sea creature haunt their fishing all the time? Is it some kind of creature that they worship and give offerings to so that their fisheries remain bountiful? The questions are endless.</p><p></p><p>But the player had intersecting longterm goals and the new scene opener crystalized her goals here and now. Save the daughter and father so that I can parley with them and hopefully they will help me/us (the children); either embrace me or reject me (depending on the success of the follow-on social conflict)...but I'll have more information regardless.</p><p></p><p>The number of ways that scene and the follow-on social conflict could have gone are myriad both in terms of the identities of the 4 parties involved (father, daughter, sea monster, village/villagers) and in terms of the trajectory of play. </p><p></p><p>Its an extremely odd thing to me to get hung up on "a stat block makes discovery/surprise impossible!" its not only not true...it seems a failure of...I don't know what? Conception of the giant creative matrix of realities in any given situation (particularly with so many unfixed parameters)?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8437619, member: 6696971"] Let me just say that I find it very...curious...and interesting...and a host of other things that the framing of the father + daughter + boat + mouth of river into bay + tentacle sea monster is a problem because "so much established fiction (literally just those things 5 scene tags were established) makes it impossible to surprise players (or the GM)." The premise of the game is that the Ranger was a Ghost of the Past theme. We (neither the player nor myself) knew who she was or where she was or what was going on; effectively her existence was unknown to her. She only had a singular memory (in Backstory below). This is what she gave me to start the game. She authored a little backstory, set some themes, and authored a Kicker (an opening scene rife with conflict) and we took it from the point of her scene framing. This is basically the start of the game (where her consciousness emerges and we begin the journey of finding out who this character is): Everything from that point forward was the play of the game letting us both (player and GM) be surprised by and collectively discover who the PC was and what the hell is going on here. The scene on the bay? All we knew at that point was what had transpired up to that point: * There were supernatural creatures/cults absconding with children from somewhere and a terrible ritual sacrifice. * She saved these children from said sacrifice and learned a little bit about things; something terrible haunts this world...some kind of supernatural apocalypse (lycanthropy or something). The children were small enough that they didn't know where they were or where they were from. They were captured some time ago from varying villages that don't stray from their walls. A few were from a bay/river village (so she decided to find a river and follow it). * Like The Road by Cormac McCarthy, all adults were proving dangerous or dangerously suspicious/protective (again, this turned into sort of a supernatural aftermath game as play wore on). Social interactions were fraught (at best). * The physical world was violent and dangerous (benign topography as well as she was up in a precarious mountain domain with landslides and rushing rivers leading precipitously downward into a bay), with actual primal spirits, wicked fey, cults, and frightened humanoid communities besetting/accosting living things. So she navigated several conflicts (including finding a place to safely stow these children while she journeys for help and to orient her to where she is and who she is). The rushing river hazard conflict ends and she filters out on the bay where the village is alleged to be. The number of questions about this little girl and the father are endless. Who are they? Are they from the village that I'm looking for? Will they welcome me or rebuff me (particularly given the world). Does this sea creature haunt their fishing all the time? Is it some kind of creature that they worship and give offerings to so that their fisheries remain bountiful? The questions are endless. But the player had intersecting longterm goals and the new scene opener crystalized her goals here and now. Save the daughter and father so that I can parley with them and hopefully they will help me/us (the children); either embrace me or reject me (depending on the success of the follow-on social conflict)...but I'll have more information regardless. The number of ways that scene and the follow-on social conflict could have gone are myriad both in terms of the identities of the 4 parties involved (father, daughter, sea monster, village/villagers) and in terms of the trajectory of play. Its an extremely odd thing to me to get hung up on "a stat block makes discovery/surprise impossible!" its not only not true...it seems a failure of...I don't know what? Conception of the giant creative matrix of realities in any given situation (particularly with so many unfixed parameters)? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Respect Mah Authoritah: Thoughts on DM and Player Authority in 5e
Top