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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bawylie" data-source="post: 6761795" data-attributes="member: 6776133">Agency is a weird idea. It's one of those things where we all know it's "good" but then become afraid of. "Linear dungeons rob players of agency!" "Save or time out eliminates players' agency!"Etc. But you know, Agency ISNT the ability to do anything you want at any time. It seems like it is, but that's misunderstood. Agency is the players' ability to remove the power of randomness and chaos by making decisions. To do that, Randomness and Chaos have to have some effect. In a sense, one can deprive players of agency by never confronting them with adversity or meaningful decision points between competing priorities. As a DM, one of my duties is to identify the players' goals, and then place obstacles between them and their goals. I design problems, but I leave solutions to them. Now, you may anticipate a number of solutions, but you leave them to the players to work out. That's their agency. Confronting them, challenging them, even locking them out for a turn, doesn't deprive them of any agency. It simply asks them to decide between competing priorities.  When you say "deal more damage is always the answer" it's because you've failed to highlight the meaning and consequences behind those choices. "Yes, you can do more damage, but if nobody protects Bob, he's going to die." And then, if they still opt for more damage, you kill Bob. NOT killing him would rob their decision of its impact & consequences. These dilemmas have to be meaningful & these consequences have to be real. It doesn't always have to be life and death (but this is a combat discussion, so...) - but it does have to have a serious trade off. If you do X, you cannot do Y. Or if you do A, B will also happen. Anyway, don't be afraid of using a time-out. Just frickin' USE it. To maximum impact. Likewise don't limit options or impose obstacles out of fear of impinging on agency (because that isn't what agency means).</blockquote>

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