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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
The Importance of Randomness
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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5824570" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>It doesn't necessarily follow that because D&D has no game theory win conditions, this yields a DM whose job it is to simply facilitate others' enjoyment. In fact, it isn't always strictly true that D&D has no game theory win conditions, though it certainly has that potential.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Facilitating the enjoyment of the players doesn't necessitate establishing strict control. It is possible for players to enjoy randomness. In fact, given the nature of surprise and excitement, it is more likely that a player will enjoy randomness far more than they would enjoy control.</p><p></p><p>You're right that a DM doesn't control the players, and can be surprised by them. However, part of what this means is that a DM cannot reliably foreknow such things as what creatures will be fought in combat, and what creatures will be parleyed with, or where the party may travel. A strongly narrative DM may be able to make fairly strong educated guesses, but not every group enjoys a strongly narrative structure on their game experience.</p><p></p><p>Furthermore, postulating that more enjoyment results for some people from a lack of control doesn't by any stretch mean that it is the only important difference between a narrative and a D&D game, it simply indicates that it is one important difference. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Your position isn't the only nuanced one in the thread, and you'd get much more out of this dialogue if you perhaps tried to discover the nuances of others' positions instead of relying on condescension to shut down opposition.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 5824570, member: 2067"] It doesn't necessarily follow that because D&D has no game theory win conditions, this yields a DM whose job it is to simply facilitate others' enjoyment. In fact, it isn't always strictly true that D&D has no game theory win conditions, though it certainly has that potential. Facilitating the enjoyment of the players doesn't necessitate establishing strict control. It is possible for players to enjoy randomness. In fact, given the nature of surprise and excitement, it is more likely that a player will enjoy randomness far more than they would enjoy control. You're right that a DM doesn't control the players, and can be surprised by them. However, part of what this means is that a DM cannot reliably foreknow such things as what creatures will be fought in combat, and what creatures will be parleyed with, or where the party may travel. A strongly narrative DM may be able to make fairly strong educated guesses, but not every group enjoys a strongly narrative structure on their game experience. Furthermore, postulating that more enjoyment results for some people from a lack of control doesn't by any stretch mean that it is the only important difference between a narrative and a D&D game, it simply indicates that it is one important difference. Your position isn't the only nuanced one in the thread, and you'd get much more out of this dialogue if you perhaps tried to discover the nuances of others' positions instead of relying on condescension to shut down opposition. [/QUOTE]
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