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<blockquote data-quote="5ekyu" data-source="post: 7603969" data-attributes="member: 6919838">&quot;'The idea that each can have absolute authority over a domain - PC beliefs/feelings; the rest of the gameworld - with no possibility of contradiciton isn't tenable, in my view.&quot;Uh huh...But the heart of the matter is this...&quot;- while the GM, exercising his/her power to describe the environment, insists that the chamberlain doesn't smell.&quot;As a gm, I would never rule the NPC doesn't smell. Everyone has a smell to them, even faint. Perception rules establish expectations. In one supers campaign, I had a villain who chain smoked distinctive brands and that smell often lingered&nbsp; at crime scenes. In another game, each magician had tell tale sigils, they also could linger after. So, what the players are doing is *either* (their call as to which ) in character pranking *or* deciding that their character finds the particular smell of the target unpleasant. If its the former, it might become relevant as deceptions are not absolute. If its the latter, it would need to be played within the normal expectations for percrption established in the game.So, no real conflicts unless the players want to define not just what they think of the target's smell but how far it goes or how loud it is. This, imo, is an example born out of vagueness in the term smell. Seitch it got hearing sounds and liking it or not and the difference is rather clearer. They can decide they find the NPCs voice funny, but not that its overly loud or unusually high pitched.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="5ekyu, post: 7603969, member: 6919838"] "'The idea that each can have absolute authority over a domain - PC beliefs/feelings; the rest of the gameworld - with no possibility of contradiciton isn't tenable, in my view." Uh huh... But the heart of the matter is this... "- while the GM, exercising his/her power to describe the environment, insists that the chamberlain doesn't smell." As a gm, I would never rule the NPC doesn't smell. Everyone has a smell to them, even faint. Perception rules establish expectations. In one supers campaign, I had a villain who chain smoked distinctive brands and that smell often lingered at crime scenes. In another game, each magician had tell tale sigils, they also could linger after. So, what the players are doing is *either* (their call as to which ) in character pranking *or* deciding that their character finds the particular smell of the target unpleasant. If its the former, it might become relevant as deceptions are not absolute. If its the latter, it would need to be played within the normal expectations for percrption established in the game. So, no real conflicts unless the players want to define not just what they think of the target's smell but how far it goes or how loud it is. This, imo, is an example born out of vagueness in the term smell. Seitch it got hearing sounds and liking it or not and the difference is rather clearer. They can decide they find the NPCs voice funny, but not that its overly loud or unusually high pitched. [/QUOTE]

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