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="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 8438457" data-attributes="member: 87792"><p>There is also a disconnect while a player's ability to navigate a scene is notably <em>worse</em> than the player's PC in the fiction. And the bandwidth that a DM, any DM, has to communicate information to me as a player is vastly, staggeringly less than the PC would have in the fiction with the ability to use all five senses, and has knowledge based on having grown up in the world.</p><p></p><p>To put this into perspective if the PC was walking through the dungeon blindfolded with someone at their shoulder describing things to them they would still have access to four senses that I, as a player, do not. They would also have the benefit of someone able to focus entirely on them in their descriptions rather than having to split their time between half a dozen players and the mechanical part of the game.</p><p></p><p>Even the best DM in the world can therefore not, through pure description alone, enable me to approach the level my character could navigate their game world <em>blindfolded</em> with someone describing things to them. And if you think descriptions work try and ask someone to help you navigate the world blindfolded just by talking to you and not even touching you.</p><p></p><p>The question therefore is whether, given that the PCs are considerably worse than blindfolded in their ability to navigate the world in detail whether something should be put in place to compensate or whether it is utterly unacceptable that there is anything put in place to compensate and worse-than-blindfolded is some sort of ideal.</p><p></p><p>For me knowing the mechanics are one of those things that bring my ability to interact with the setting into the same ball park as my PC even if it's not exactly the same way as they would. Being blindfolded I find a profoundly unsatisfying experience. And knowledge of the mechanics is one way to compensate for the physical limits of not being there and not really being able to use my eyes or my nose while having a DM who has to split their attention. Thus with the mechanics I'm far nearer what my PC can do in the fiction rather than having only the abilities to understand the world that are a crippled subset of my character.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 8438457, member: 87792"] There is also a disconnect while a player's ability to navigate a scene is notably [I]worse[/I] than the player's PC in the fiction. And the bandwidth that a DM, any DM, has to communicate information to me as a player is vastly, staggeringly less than the PC would have in the fiction with the ability to use all five senses, and has knowledge based on having grown up in the world. To put this into perspective if the PC was walking through the dungeon blindfolded with someone at their shoulder describing things to them they would still have access to four senses that I, as a player, do not. They would also have the benefit of someone able to focus entirely on them in their descriptions rather than having to split their time between half a dozen players and the mechanical part of the game. Even the best DM in the world can therefore not, through pure description alone, enable me to approach the level my character could navigate their game world [I]blindfolded[/I] with someone describing things to them. And if you think descriptions work try and ask someone to help you navigate the world blindfolded just by talking to you and not even touching you. The question therefore is whether, given that the PCs are considerably worse than blindfolded in their ability to navigate the world in detail whether something should be put in place to compensate or whether it is utterly unacceptable that there is anything put in place to compensate and worse-than-blindfolded is some sort of ideal. For me knowing the mechanics are one of those things that bring my ability to interact with the setting into the same ball park as my PC even if it's not exactly the same way as they would. Being blindfolded I find a profoundly unsatisfying experience. And knowledge of the mechanics is one way to compensate for the physical limits of not being there and not really being able to use my eyes or my nose while having a DM who has to split their attention. Thus with the mechanics I'm far nearer what my PC can do in the fiction rather than having only the abilities to understand the world that are a crippled subset of my character. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Respect Mah Authoritah: Thoughts on DM and Player Authority in 5e
Top