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<blockquote data-quote="TheFindus" data-source="post: 6595231" data-attributes="member: 75791"><p>But do you really not leave success or failure up to the PCs when not rolling on a table? The result of the dice rolls will influence the situational content in the same amount as a simple pick from the table without the roll of a die because you could have rolled any result.</p><p>The risk you run into, though, is that you could roll something up that is completely uninteresting and unengaging for the players. Is that risk not more likely to be important for the success and failure of the PCs?</p><p></p><p>As far as I understand it, the major advantages for this playstyle presented are:</p><p>1. that the DM simply picking something without rolling leads to railroading</p><p>2. that a roll on a table leads to a more believable content</p><p>3. the DM's taste or wish has no influence in what is going to happen.</p><p></p><p>Maybe I have misunderstood some of the nuances of the discussion, but as far as I see it right now, this is what it boils down to. Please correct me if I am wrong.</p><p>Now, what I am saying is this.</p><p></p><p>Ad 1: Railroading is about negating player choices (x happens no mater what the PCs do). But not rolling or scene-framing is not about advancing any DM-plot. I do not have a plot in mind when I DM. There are NPCs with motives and plans, locations etc. But I do not decide what the PCs do. I just narrate the consequences which will lead (and this is crucial) to the next scene which is heavily influenced by what the players interests are (because we talked about it in advance or they picked paragon path x or theme y etc.). There is no railroad. </p><p></p><p>Ad 2: If you roll on a table and you are willing to live with any result (which you seem to do) than you regard anything on that table to be plausible. Also, you, the DM, made that table or you, the DM picked it up somewhere because you thought it full of plausible things. Rolling the dice is therefore unnecessary to introduce plausible content. You could just pick one result to get a plausible thing. So why roll the dice?</p><p></p><p>Ad 3: The tables you, the DM, make so you have something to roll for are influenced by yout, the DMs taste. So any table has something to do with what you find interesting, plausible or fun. Which, to be clear, I do not find in the least surprising or bad. It is human and the DM has to like the game, too. This is especially true for the genre (why should anybody DM an underwater setting if she is not in the least attracted to this?) but can go as far as PCs actions (for me, evil PCs come to mind - I hate those. Why should I offer to DM if this is what the game will be about or turns out to be about?). So you make your tables and you think that the content on the tables is good, reliable, plausible etc. content. I mostly make stuff up as we go along and have the setting, locations and NPCs (with their plans) in mind but do not roll. How is that different? The only thing different is the point in time the two of us made it up. You much more in advance than I did. The decisions are still based on what we, as DMs, fell is plausible etc.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheFindus, post: 6595231, member: 75791"] But do you really not leave success or failure up to the PCs when not rolling on a table? The result of the dice rolls will influence the situational content in the same amount as a simple pick from the table without the roll of a die because you could have rolled any result. The risk you run into, though, is that you could roll something up that is completely uninteresting and unengaging for the players. Is that risk not more likely to be important for the success and failure of the PCs? As far as I understand it, the major advantages for this playstyle presented are: 1. that the DM simply picking something without rolling leads to railroading 2. that a roll on a table leads to a more believable content 3. the DM's taste or wish has no influence in what is going to happen. Maybe I have misunderstood some of the nuances of the discussion, but as far as I see it right now, this is what it boils down to. Please correct me if I am wrong. Now, what I am saying is this. Ad 1: Railroading is about negating player choices (x happens no mater what the PCs do). But not rolling or scene-framing is not about advancing any DM-plot. I do not have a plot in mind when I DM. There are NPCs with motives and plans, locations etc. But I do not decide what the PCs do. I just narrate the consequences which will lead (and this is crucial) to the next scene which is heavily influenced by what the players interests are (because we talked about it in advance or they picked paragon path x or theme y etc.). There is no railroad. Ad 2: If you roll on a table and you are willing to live with any result (which you seem to do) than you regard anything on that table to be plausible. Also, you, the DM, made that table or you, the DM picked it up somewhere because you thought it full of plausible things. Rolling the dice is therefore unnecessary to introduce plausible content. You could just pick one result to get a plausible thing. So why roll the dice? Ad 3: The tables you, the DM, make so you have something to roll for are influenced by yout, the DMs taste. So any table has something to do with what you find interesting, plausible or fun. Which, to be clear, I do not find in the least surprising or bad. It is human and the DM has to like the game, too. This is especially true for the genre (why should anybody DM an underwater setting if she is not in the least attracted to this?) but can go as far as PCs actions (for me, evil PCs come to mind - I hate those. Why should I offer to DM if this is what the game will be about or turns out to be about?). So you make your tables and you think that the content on the tables is good, reliable, plausible etc. content. I mostly make stuff up as we go along and have the setting, locations and NPCs (with their plans) in mind but do not roll. How is that different? The only thing different is the point in time the two of us made it up. You much more in advance than I did. The decisions are still based on what we, as DMs, fell is plausible etc. [/QUOTE]
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