Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
The Best Thing from 4E
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6581156" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I agree with this.</p><p></p><p>The notion that XP are "earned" because the players resolved an encounter the GM had pre-planned, but are "not earned" because the GM framed the PCs into the encounter to push the game forward, is odd to me.</p><p></p><p>In the first sort of play, logistics and planning are rewarded (which relates, again, to [MENTION=205]TwoSix[/MENTION]'s post upthread). In the second sort of play, logistics and planning are less important, and it is the actual play during the encounter which determines the outcome. They are different playstyles, but neither is about "earned" vs "unearned"!</p><p></p><p>Right.</p><p></p><p>Time is not a resource in my 4e game. I use my own judgment, as GM, to decide when to keep throwing things at the PCs, and when to pull back, based on a sense of their surges remaining, powers spent etc. (This isn't that hard to keep a general handle on, because comments among the players about resources remaining are organic to play.)</p><p></p><p>A related thing, that to me also illustrates a contrast between illusionistic and non-illusionistic play. One of my players, more than once, has early in a combat encounter observed that he is not pulling out all the stops because he expects that I, as GM, may well have a second wave ready to enter the fight, and he (the player) wants to have the resources to handle that.</p><p></p><p>In other words, the player knows that I add content to the fiction in order to put pressure on the players (via their PCs). It's not disguised as an "organic outgrowth" of a "living, breathing world". </p><p></p><p>For me, the pithiest bit of helpful GMing advice I remember having read is <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=1361" target="_blank">this, from Paul Czege</a>:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">when I'm framing scenes, and I'm in the zone, I'm turning a freakin' firehose of adversity and situation on the character. It is not an objective outgrowth of prior events. It's intentional as all get out.</p><p></p><p>I think that, from Czege's point of view, my game is probably fairly puerile - I don't think the "firehose of adversity" that he had in mind is Pazuzu turning up when a PC wishes upon his Ring of Tenacious Will!, or a <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?330383-Underdark-adventure-with-Demons-Beholders-Elementals-and-a-Hydra" target="_blank">column of rock turning out to be a roper</a> because a player had his PC examine it closely - but for me Czege's advice works outside the avant-garde context that he had in mind.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6581156, member: 42582"] I agree with this. The notion that XP are "earned" because the players resolved an encounter the GM had pre-planned, but are "not earned" because the GM framed the PCs into the encounter to push the game forward, is odd to me. In the first sort of play, logistics and planning are rewarded (which relates, again, to [MENTION=205]TwoSix[/MENTION]'s post upthread). In the second sort of play, logistics and planning are less important, and it is the actual play during the encounter which determines the outcome. They are different playstyles, but neither is about "earned" vs "unearned"! Right. Time is not a resource in my 4e game. I use my own judgment, as GM, to decide when to keep throwing things at the PCs, and when to pull back, based on a sense of their surges remaining, powers spent etc. (This isn't that hard to keep a general handle on, because comments among the players about resources remaining are organic to play.) A related thing, that to me also illustrates a contrast between illusionistic and non-illusionistic play. One of my players, more than once, has early in a combat encounter observed that he is not pulling out all the stops because he expects that I, as GM, may well have a second wave ready to enter the fight, and he (the player) wants to have the resources to handle that. In other words, the player knows that I add content to the fiction in order to put pressure on the players (via their PCs). It's not disguised as an "organic outgrowth" of a "living, breathing world". For me, the pithiest bit of helpful GMing advice I remember having read is [url=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=1361]this, from Paul Czege[/url]: [indent]when I'm framing scenes, and I'm in the zone, I'm turning a freakin' firehose of adversity and situation on the character. It is not an objective outgrowth of prior events. It's intentional as all get out.[/indent] I think that, from Czege's point of view, my game is probably fairly puerile - I don't think the "firehose of adversity" that he had in mind is Pazuzu turning up when a PC wishes upon his Ring of Tenacious Will!, or a [url=http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?330383-Underdark-adventure-with-Demons-Beholders-Elementals-and-a-Hydra]column of rock turning out to be a roper[/url] because a player had his PC examine it closely - but for me Czege's advice works outside the avant-garde context that he had in mind. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
The Best Thing from 4E
Top