D&D 5E Resting and the frikkin' Elephant in the Room

vanishes or "is back at camp" lol
Ah. If you can pull it off that your sessions usually end at camp-out time I can kinda see this. In my case a single adventuring day often takes more than one session, and we pick up right where we left off. In those cases it makes no sense for someome to just vanish.

Lanefan
 

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Ah. If you can pull it off that your sessions usually end at camp-out time I can kinda see this. In my case a single adventuring day often takes more than one session, and we pick up right where we left off. In those cases it makes no sense for someome to just vanish.

Lanefan
We've had the same in our games. Someone can't make it so we have to decide what they are doing. In general, we just ignore it the PC is still there they just aren't doing much. I have in some cases taken the PC and spent resources on the other players' behalf. We had a paladin player who couldn't make it so I just let the rest of the party know that his spell slots and lay on hands was still available to the rest of the party. It worked out in the end.
 

What I'm saying (and maybe others are saying, but I'm not sure) is that you're steadfastly defending what is to me an undefendable position, in that the loss of player agency (control over where to go*) is an unacceptable cost ......
Right, and I know that to many of you that cost is too high - but you can see how to others its a barely noticeable cost? I've personally known thousands of gamers that didn't mind staying on a predefined game board.

....particularly as the gain in player agency you mention as its tradeoff can be largely achieved without it. The DM just has to quite literally be prepared for anything...and if you know your game world well enough this is quite possible to do about 99% of the time. If done wrong it certainly can taint player agency, no doubt there. But it's by no means guaranteed that it will...

Taint occurs any time a third party interjects himself between a cause and effect - and regardless of benevolence or impartiality. But hey - some players and DMs savor that taint and/or see it as adding to the flavor, and good for them - its just not my choice.
 

Ah. If you can pull it off that your sessions usually end at camp-out time I can kinda see this. In my case a single adventuring day often takes more than one session, and we pick up right where we left off. In those cases it makes no sense for someome to just vanish.

Lanefan

I guess the fun we get from balanced tactical challenges trumps the need for a logical reason why dude vanished....we just throw it into the category of things-I-dont-want-to-think-too-hard-about, along with "why do the number of bad guys get larger the more good guys there are?" or "what's in this yummy der weinershcnitzel chili cheese dog?" lol.
 

We've had the same in our games. Someone can't make it so we have to decide what they are doing. In general, we just ignore it the PC is still there they just aren't doing much. I have in some cases taken the PC and spent resources on the other players' behalf. We had a paladin player who couldn't make it so I just let the rest of the party know that his spell slots and lay on hands was still available to the rest of the party. It worked out in the end.
We have it that the missing player's character is still fully functional. If the missing player left any instructions those are followed where practical, otherwise the character is run by committee kind of like a party NPC, keeping in mind its established characteristics and SOP's and so forth. It's just more realistic than having characters vanish or wander off for no good in-game reason all the time.

Players are made aware of this right from day 1, that if you don't make it the game may still go ahead (if enough others do turn up) and your character is somewhat at the mercy of the table; and character sheets always stay here between sessions for just this reason.

Lanefan
 


I have seen pictures of your vast collection of terrain and miniatures. They are very impressive, and your players are very fortunate to utilize such elaborate set pieces.

As glorious as they may be, though, they are still table dressing. And, in my opinion, no amount of papercraft terrain or painted figures can compete with the scope and scale of a digital game world brought to life by thousands of hours of professional development on high-end computer hardware. Nor can any Dungeon Master be more impartial than the instructions and AI coded into its underlying systems.

When I play a CRPG, I willingly surrender myself to the predefined path of the story. I understand that my agency is highly limited, and I find enjoyment in poking at the edges of the illusion to discover the hard boundaries of my freedom and I accept its limitations.

Likewise, when I sit down at a table with fellow players and a DM, I understand that there is a social contract that facilitates cooperative play within the game world or adventure. But when my agency pokes at the edges of the DM's prepared content and best-laid plans, I expect the illusion to flex and grow. I am far less concerned with imperfect rulings and ad hoc encounters than I am with an honest attempt to adjudicate the actions of my PC. If my character's efforts are often stymied by simply being in conflict with a prepared script, I try to cooperate for the enjoyment of the group, but my personal engagement level plummets.

You're not "wrong" to enjoy D&D as you've presented it. I can appreciate the strengths associated with your style (tight storyline, strong presentation, strict mechanics), but they don't lure me to the table because I feel they are done better in other forms of entertainment.
 
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We have it that the missing player's character is still fully functional. If the missing player left any instructions those are followed where practical, otherwise the character is run by committee kind of like a party NPC, keeping in mind its established characteristics and SOP's and so forth. It's just more realistic than having characters vanish or wander off for no good in-game reason all the time.

Players are made aware of this right from day 1, that if you don't make it the game may still go ahead (if enough others do turn up) and your character is somewhat at the mercy of the table; and character sheets always stay here between sessions for just this reason.

Lanefan


The running joke at our table is that PC of missing players are overcome with a fit of violent recklessness, or reckless violence. If its multiples we say they lock arms and sing as they run towards the dangers. "crap is that a sphere of annihilation? Hey have Bob's character go check it...." Of course we don't really try to have them do stupid things. Usually.
 


We have it that the missing player's character is still fully functional. If the missing player left any instructions those are followed where practical, otherwise the character is run by committee kind of like a party NPC, keeping in mind its established characteristics and SOP's and so forth. It's just more realistic than having characters vanish or wander off for no good in-game reason all the time.

Players are made aware of this right from day 1, that if you don't make it the game may still go ahead (if enough others do turn up) and your character is somewhat at the mercy of the table; and character sheets always stay here between sessions for just this reason.

Lanefan
hahahahahaahhahaha
More realistic. I am mad at you Lanefan. You have had nice players which will not play Jasper's pc badly when jasper is on a date.
I quit allowing my pcs to be ran when I was not there, and quit allowing other people's pc to be ran by committee back in 1981. Or about 1 year after I started gaming.
People vanish? Use the fog from Ravenloft (my groups were doing similar things but the Ravenloft fog became the default).
People wander off? People disappear? Like that comic book amazon guest star in the "simpsons" episode. "a wizard did it."
Or be realistic. D&D is a game. Jasper is not here. So Jasper's pc is not here because this is a game.
Now some of you will but what about the story? Write a book. The story is during the module XX1-2 Godizzalla does New York Jasper roll nat 20, nat 1 four times in roll. Killing the boss monster and slaying half the party with his critical fumbles.
 
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Problem 1: You read the Angry GM. There is no reason to read the Angry GM as anything he says you can get from somewhere else with 1/5 the text and no fake swearing.

I agree that the contrived persona wears thin after about 2 sentences, but I tend to find his analyses both insightful and, for me, eye-opening. It's not that I find his ideas radical, it's that he articulates, and sometimes even surfaces, ideas/feelings/hunches I've had. Then again, I don't follow that many RPG commentators.
 

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