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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 7656469" data-attributes="member: 6787650">Hmmm. Okay, here's where I'm coming from:* I'm basically a simulationist at heart. A lot of the joy of D&D for me personally comes from exploring various subsystems of D&D and how they interact. As a player, I don't really care about win/lose, but I care a lot about internal consistency.* When I'm DMing, I have a pretty fast and loose style. I don't map out the whole campaign world in advance, and sometimes I'll design adventures by flipping through the MM or kobold.com and finding monsters I want to use, and then back-fill an ecology from there. (That is, I want the end result to be consistent, but I don't mind being surprised during world-building. "Oh! I guess the twig blights must be working with the mind flayers. Lord Waldemar the Rakshasa is probably opposed to them both.") Because I don't have a predetermined end in mind, and because I enjoy playing with the rule sets, I don't mind at all when players contribute to the rules by trying to design their own weapons ("You want a hammer polearm? Okay, glaive stats but with bludgeoning." "Shouldn't I be able to slash with the back end?" "Good point. Sure, why not?") nor do I mind at all if players want to push back on a ruling ("It says elves get eight hours benefit from four hours of trance, so I should be fully rested." "Well, technically it's not supposed to work that way, but that sounds reasonable to me, so okay, we'll go with it."). I have absolutely no fear of losing control of my narrative, because I don't have a very sophisticated narrative in the first place, just a sandbox with guide rails. (Last week I told my guys, when they started trying to chase down a tenuous clue to the murder mystery, "I won't guarantee that this clue really even has anything to do with the murders. It may be a red herring. The only thing I promise you is that if you do chase this clue down, you will find something interesting.")* When I'm playing a PC, my DM is a guy who is basically narrativist at heart. Like many people, he's played many editions of (A)D&D and is relatively new to 5E, and is therefore still learning the rules. He likes to concentrate on the storyline and let us worry about the rules. (And by "us" I mostly mean "me" since I have the best memory for them.) An example rules adjudication a few weeks ago went something like this: One PC casts Silence on an enemy spellcaster.DM is like, "Oh no, he can't do anything now."I point out that Silence, unlike Darkness, has no language saying that it follows you around in 5E. [Some other players are a little upset at this point that I'm "helping the enemy" but that's dumb.]DM takes a minute to read both descriptions, and then rules that yeah, the enemy spellcaster can just move out of the affected area. Play resumes.There have been other times where things didn't go so smoothly, but usually if there is friction it is due to either 1.) players being upset that their plan (e.g. using the Daylight spell to blast vampires) is derailed due to another player "influencing" the DM; 2.) DM getting irked at rules reminders that interfere with narrative pacing (being reminded that there's a materials component cost for Arcane Lock when he's busy thinking about the illithids on the other side, and how the PCs are reacting to them). But he actively appreciates having someone else keep an eye on the rules for him, and I in turn keep discussions brief, and if the rules affect a problem player I sometimes just sit on my notes until after the session.I think these are both examples of what I've called "collegial" play, cooperative play among peers, in spite of the fact that they are pretty much opposites in terms of how the mechanics of the different games work. Nobody is thin-skinned about having their "authority" challenged, but at the same time, all the players are courteous to the DM about how challenges are conducted. And, I think my games probably fall closer to the "rules" end of the spectrum because I am good at creating rules and enjoy doing so, whereas my DM's games are closer to the "rulings" end of the spectrum--so collegiality is compatible with rules and rulings both.</blockquote>

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