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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7044196" data-attributes="member: 97077">I think there's a difference between:DM: The villain [does a thing]. I bet that makes Ragnar pretty mad, right?Tom (playing Ragnar): Hell yeah it does. "You'll pay for that!"orDM: The orc screams at it charges you down with its greataxe!Tom: I imagine the orc thinks Ragnar's a threat because he's taller than the orc.DM: Sure, let's go with that. He's got a case of small man syndrome when it comes to you!andTom: I want to intimidate the orc.DM: Sure, Charisma (Intimidation) check please.Tom: *rolls* Only a 10.DM: Okay, so you brandish your weapon and let out a fearsome warcry, even louder than the orc's. It is somewhat cowed by your display, but continues its assault unabated.The first two are what I think of when you say your table is "making suggestions" to each other. And that's all good in my book! The third one is a case of the DM overstepping his or her role in my view by establishing what the character is doing because the player's description of what he wanted to do lacks an approach or even a clear statement as to the goal.Yes, in my experience, the DM is the one who does it most often and players often defer to it unless what was established is egregious. I was just remarking last week about how I was watching an actual play podcast where the players objected several times to what the DM said their characters were doing. This sort of situation seems easily avoided by asking the players to be clear about their goals and approaches even in the moment. "I want to intimidate the orc..." for example might be followed up with "Okay, how do you go about that and what specific effect do you hope to bring about?"In fact, this came up for me at my session on Saturday. A player who plays in other games than mine said something along the lines of "Do I think that [XYZ] is going on here?" To which I responded, "I can't tell you what your character thinks. Do you want to do something? What's your goal and approach?" He thought about it and then came back with a goal and approach that I could then adjudicate.Anyway, I may start a separate thread on this if I can figure out a way to frame the discussion to explore the approach and its origins without it turning into defense against a perceived attack.</blockquote>

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