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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5000096" data-attributes="member: 59082">Weem and Dausuul, I think what you are talking about in terms of mystery/suspension of disbelief has to do with a cultural shift, specifically with regards to a kind of sense of entitlement that is more prevalent now than it was, say, twenty years ago. In terms of RPGs I think the key is bringing back DM Fiat as the default mode of play, the "One Rule to rule them all", so to speak. I don't think this has as much to do with any specific edition as the time that the edition(s) came out. And yes, I see this as happening largely around the time 3ed came on the scene, almost a decade ago. Coupled with the rules density of that edition it was a ripe context for rules lawyering, player-vs-DM, and a bunch of other garbage that I personally can't stand--as a DM or player. To me any RPG is based upon a kind of unspoken contract between the GM and the players: that the players will trust the GM, that the GM is the "god" of the game, and that he or she will hold one operative as primary above all others: the enjoyment of all. That contract is absolutely necessary for a game to run smoothly--and enjoyably. (INTERLUDE: The culture of entitlement, I would postulate, is at least partially the spawn of the postmodern movement, in particular the Politically Correct virus of the early-to-mid 90s that the RPG populace seems, to this day, so dreadfully infected with. It is not my intention to discuss the pros and cons of postmodernism, for there are both, but to hypothesize that the negative fallout of postmodernism created a climate in which "all views are equal" and "everything is subjective"--except, of course, the tenets of postmodernism! This led to a disempowerment of authority figures, including teachers and GMs. To put it another way, postmodernism couldn't differentiate between healthy and pathological (oppressive) hierarchies and therefore trashed them all. So blame Derrida for the loss of DM Fiat! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />)I actual had a very similar idea a year or so ago but forgot! Thanks for reminding me. They could be called "Ritual Stones" and, as you said, hold the "charge" of the ritual until the owner of the stone releases it. A ritual caster could charge up a bunch of stones during an extended rest.</blockquote>

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