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Traps, Agency, and Telegraphing Dangers
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<blockquote data-quote="bloodtide" data-source="post: 9094173" data-attributes="member: 6684958"><p>I'm on the second side of at least half of the events in an RPG can and will happen without the players foreknowledge or direct consent. The players only have the very limited viewpoint of a couple very limited characters.</p><p></p><p>Some times, somethings will be telegraphed. The players will be told flat out that the Cursed Ruby of Katrorrak has a powerful curse that effects anyone who touches it. Other times the characters might find some ancient ruins of a dark god and have no direct knowledge that the area is cursed.</p><p></p><p>In a realistic simulation type setting of a game the PCs will "fall" for things at least half the time. And even if you have a divination trapmaster character, they will only shave a couple percentage points off.</p><p></p><p>As an Old School DM, my game world is full of not just traps, but tons of things the players, and the characters, know nothing about but can and will have huge negative effects. </p><p></p><p>I do think that a bit less then half of traps and other such things are telegraphed. But less then ten percent are the the Easy Button Obvious Type. The Vast majority of the potential telegraphed traps and such require a huge investment by the player and character to figure out.</p><p></p><p>This is part of the bigger "player agency" argument. Where many feel everything should be rolled out for the players and characters on a red carpet. Exactly like a movie or TV show does. And those of us on the other side saying the characters and player must put in a fair amount of work, focus and effort to discover anything.</p><p></p><p>And this brings in the Huge difference between Old School and Modern play. In the Old School Style a player is often given hints, clues, and fragments of information. Many are quite subtle. Many are not obvious. And a great many require the player to have the character take some proactive action. And nearly all require the player....for Real...to use their Real life knowledge, intelligence and skills...for Real...to figure out things in the game world. Irregardless of "The Rules" or any "dice rolls".</p><p></p><p>And the Modern shift is obvious. In the Modern game it is all about Character knowledge, intelligence and skills. In the Modern game, by design, the player just rolls dice. The player is not required to use any Real knowledge, intelligence and skills. This makes traps pointless and boring and binary. "The Character" with their amazing abilities just finds, avoids and disarms the traps....all with the roll of some dice. The player just sits back and relaxes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="bloodtide, post: 9094173, member: 6684958"] I'm on the second side of at least half of the events in an RPG can and will happen without the players foreknowledge or direct consent. The players only have the very limited viewpoint of a couple very limited characters. Some times, somethings will be telegraphed. The players will be told flat out that the Cursed Ruby of Katrorrak has a powerful curse that effects anyone who touches it. Other times the characters might find some ancient ruins of a dark god and have no direct knowledge that the area is cursed. In a realistic simulation type setting of a game the PCs will "fall" for things at least half the time. And even if you have a divination trapmaster character, they will only shave a couple percentage points off. As an Old School DM, my game world is full of not just traps, but tons of things the players, and the characters, know nothing about but can and will have huge negative effects. I do think that a bit less then half of traps and other such things are telegraphed. But less then ten percent are the the Easy Button Obvious Type. The Vast majority of the potential telegraphed traps and such require a huge investment by the player and character to figure out. This is part of the bigger "player agency" argument. Where many feel everything should be rolled out for the players and characters on a red carpet. Exactly like a movie or TV show does. And those of us on the other side saying the characters and player must put in a fair amount of work, focus and effort to discover anything. And this brings in the Huge difference between Old School and Modern play. In the Old School Style a player is often given hints, clues, and fragments of information. Many are quite subtle. Many are not obvious. And a great many require the player to have the character take some proactive action. And nearly all require the player....for Real...to use their Real life knowledge, intelligence and skills...for Real...to figure out things in the game world. Irregardless of "The Rules" or any "dice rolls". And the Modern shift is obvious. In the Modern game it is all about Character knowledge, intelligence and skills. In the Modern game, by design, the player just rolls dice. The player is not required to use any Real knowledge, intelligence and skills. This makes traps pointless and boring and binary. "The Character" with their amazing abilities just finds, avoids and disarms the traps....all with the roll of some dice. The player just sits back and relaxes. [/QUOTE]
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