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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7496651" data-attributes="member: 97077">It's right in the section called "How to Play." The DM describes the environment. The players describe what they want to do. (The DM might call for a check at this point or might not.) The DM narrates the results of the adventurers' actions. Repeat, for every single kind of scene in the game. It doesn't say to call for a check before the players describe what they want to do because maybe the DM might describe the environment differently then. Nobody has to play that way, but I do. Perhaps not surprisingly, the game runs very smoothly as a result.I DM for new players in one-shots, too. I just ask them to tell me what they want to do (per How to Play). I'll take care of the rest.To be clear, calling for checks when I haven't even described an action for my character is the deal breaker. It's bad in my view because not only does it mean the DM has not read or internalized the section on "How to Play," which seems pretty fundamental to playing a game of any sort, it means the DM is not even aware what calling for an ability check necessarily establishes - that my character has done something with an uncertain outcome and a meaningful consequence of failure. Something that I haven't been given an opportunity to describe or otherwise establish, which means the DM is effectively playing my character for me.To be even clearer, my position is not some principle that I apply to all games as Celebrim has suggested. In fact, such a suggestion completely misunderstands the underlying notion that each game should be, in my view, be played differently according to their rules and procedures. This is simply what is called for in D&D 5e. Nothing more, nothing less.</blockquote>

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