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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JamesonCourage" data-source="post: 6588232" data-attributes="member: 6668292">I think that's probably true.Well, that's true, obviously. But they, as players, might be subconsciously processing queues or patterns that I give as GM, and responding to that (thus a "gut instinct" or something).I pretty much agree.Well, I use dice to determine things, too, so I wouldn't be against rolling for stuff if it's not yet decided (in fact, I do that quite often). However, once it has been decided, and then a choice is naturally presented to the PCs (whether they go left or right), why would I change that? I want to see what happens based on their choice.So, yes. If it was pre-decided, then rolling for it would be akin to fudging to me. I don't like doing that (I have no GM screen, my rolls are in the open, etc.).I've never heard of it -and I don't play many computer games- but that sounds like a fun game.Hmm. I think I used a mixture. I go for a "natural" sort of play, but allow much of it to be decided by dice. So, NPCs will act as I think appropriate. Events will be decided based on their mechanics and my perception of common sense, mixed with some rolls to see if anything outside of the ordinary happens.So, let's take one series of events. I had rolled some dice, and I have rules for resolving things. If I get doubles, then something unrelated happens, and I roll for details on that. In this scenario, it looked like there was a plot against the king. The PCs were traveling around looking for a new mission (they're part of or work with an international magician order that tries to keep the peace). While talking to one specific magician, the idea of a potential plot against the king was revealed to them (I had rolled a combination of percentage dice and a skill check to determine if this NPC knew, and surprisingly, her did).So, the PCs make their way inside the capital city, and there were two assassination attempts on the king's life (though the queen rules). They could have engaged, left, tried to ignore it, or whatever. But, the city went on lock down after the first attempt.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">So, if they'd decided to flee, they'd probably have to negotiate their way out (feasible for a party consisting of a magician from the international order and a noble).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If they'd decided to wait it out, they could've found an inn, rented a place to stay, leveraged social status to secure a house for the interim etc. While waiting, they could have pursued other interests in the city, or just skip it and pass some time until they're able to leave.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They decided to engage. They prevented the first assassination, and the noble/physician was able to restart the king's heart after they'd failed on the second.</li> </ul>Now, after they'd engaged, things got complicated. Evidence showed that the first attempt was made on behalf of the queen, who was the rightful ruler of the nation (though the act was still technically illegal). After finding out, the king rounded up forces and decided to take her into custody. To further complicate matters, the crown prince arrived, took a section of guards for himself, and went after the PCs (and the rogue-ish one in particular). Rather than engage with the royal free-for-all occurring, the players opted for an escape strategy, and went after that (I'll spare the details).But, basically, what I'm doing is running things as "naturally" as I can. The players can then react to this ever-changing setting however they want. So basically I roll things to determine what's going on (which sometimes branches off to other things). I roll for nations, I roll for percent chance of things being possible (is there a specially crafted good waiting to be sold rather than commissioned in the city of 5,500 people? I'll roll to find out).Then, based on what I roll, then I follow the mechanics (I have a d100 event chart for nations, for example, which usually branches off to 6 options each, and every bit of it has mechanics). After that, I translate how that might look in this particular setting, at this particular time, and incorporate that into the narrative. Then the players react to it however they see fit, and we resolve those events. And the cycle continues.I know I get a little rambly, so sorry if this is confusing. But that's about the gist of it. And that's why I have a problem with "scene framing" with this particular style. It's basically self-defeating. It's not full-on railroading or illusionism, but it pushes both much more than I'd like for the style of fantasy game that I enjoy running most (which basically follows what I've outlined, above). I enjoy playing in other types of games, and even running more "scene frame"-oriented games outside of fantasy (especially things like my superhero one-shots). But I try to keep to the particular style above for my fantasy game.</blockquote>

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