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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hella_Tellah" data-source="post: 4599192" data-attributes="member: 52669">My preferred game systems are Mage: The Awakening, Spirit of the Century, Nobilis, and Victoriana, but my methods can be used with any system, or no system.  I'm a died-in-the-wool narrativist, so the following may make you <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/rant.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":rant:" title="Rant    :rant:" data-shortname=":rant:" />RAGE<img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/rant.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":rant:" title="Rant    :rant:" data-shortname=":rant:" /> if you prefer simulationist or gamist play.First, come to the table with the assumption that, no matter what choices the players make, the outcome will be fun and interesting.  This keeps players from feeling like they always have to make the best choices, or that they need to fall back on using their stats for everything to avoid missing out on the fun.Second, evaluate player decisions on the basis of what would be the coolest, or make the most sense from a story perspective.  Let's say we're playing a light-hearted game set in the Old West.  If an NPC comes up to the famous gunslinger PC and insults his mama, it makes sense that the PC should be able to sock the NPC across the jaw, start a bar brawl, and make it out without serious physical or legal repercussions.  It's just a genre thing, and it's the most fun way to interpret the player's idea.Third, only ask for a roll of the dice when the outcome is uncertain and would be interesting no matter how the numbers play out.  If Big Jim Hardy is driving his wagon from one settlement to the next, there's no need to roll Horsemanship--unless there's an equally interesting story to be had by him getting lost in the wilderness, having to swap out a wagon wheel, and so forth.  If the wagon is speeding along a narrow ravine, being chased by Apaches, don't roll the driver's Horsemanship trait unless you know you can come up with a cool story whether he fails or succeeds.  If you can't think of a way to make success and failure both different and fun, maybe just have rolls for shooting back at the Apaches, and don't worry about the wagon so much.  If the player is trying to repair his pistol, for heaven's sake don't make him roll for it unless a broken pistol can somehow add to the story--maybe he has to learn how to fight like an Indian and use the spear and tomahawk he just found.For diplomacy, bluffing, and other applications of "talk until the story progresses," drop a bunch of clues as to the style of interaction you want to run.  Make it reasonably clear to the players what kind of approach will lead to good times.  Abe Bertelman, the barkeep, talks in fancy, flowery, Ivy-league English, so the players will usually respond in kind.  Edith the prostitute flirts her way through life, so she respects a good flirt.  But if the players respond in any way that is interesting and fun, reward it with an easy roll.  If their idea wasn't fun, the roll might be more difficult, but succeed or fail, something interesting happens.Investigation calls for an even stricter application of the "rule of cool."  It is not fun to have everyone sitting about, wondering what to do.  Give out clues.  Give out too many clues.  If they succeed at something, give them a good clue, and if they fail, give them a different clue.  If the old country preacher rolls to see if he knows that the corpse has been scalped, and fails, then give him some other clue: "Reverend Smith puzzles over the trader's body for a few moments, but can't quite put together just what killed the man.  He does, however, see a set of hoofprints going off in the direction of Cheyenne."  Now Reverend Smith doesn't know who killed his pardner, but he knows where to find them.  Failure was meaningful, but not game-stopping.tl;dr: Do what makes the story interesting, reward players who make the story interesting, and don't pick up the dice unless you can guarantee that the story will be interesting either way.</blockquote>

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