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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 4492831" data-attributes="member: 42582">I've been wondering where all the outrage was at this example in a D&D core rulebook of a player adopting director's stance.Frankly, I think that more director's stance is probably necessary to make 4e work. For example, for a player to be able to sensibly narrate the use of a power like Come and Get It (Hypersmurf has posted some clever examples in various threads), or Tumbling past a gelatinous cube, then the player has to be able to specify elements of the gameworld other than her PC.Well, one of Hypersmurf's example narrations of Come and Get It is "The sun reflects of my blade, dazzling the first of the two goblins in the tree. As he falls, his companion reaches out to grab him and overbalances also. They land at my feet and I carve them with my sword." This requires the player to be able to narrate the gameworld independently of her PC's actions. Another example Hypersmurf has given is "I pull on the rug the wizard is standing on. She stumbles, trips and lands at my feet. I carve her with my sword." Again, this requires the player to be able to narrate the gameworld (including the existence of a rug).The notion that there is an inherent juvenility to a player adopting director's stance is a little odd. Likewise the notion that it's better suited to kick-in-the-door play. Most games which embrace the players adoption of director's stance as central to the game (some examples have been given upthread - I'd add HeroWars and The Dying Earth to the list) are aimed at something quite different from kick-in-the-door play.I agree with all of this.The fact that a player gets to introduce a gameworld element that is not her PC, nor the result of her PC's action, doesn't mean she knows what's going to happen. That won't be known until play actually occurs. What it does mean is that the player gets to shape the thematic or aesthetic content of the game.Fair enough. That's a different approach to the game.</blockquote>

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