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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7341826" data-attributes="member: 29398">Actually, no they don't.They act as constraints on action resolution, which is a completely different phase of the process.&nbsp;Point ii above can - and one assumes will - happen exactly the same at the table regardless of whether the map's location is preauthored or free-floating: the players declare that their PCs search the study for the map.&nbsp; This is the action declaration phase, and probably is close to the same in nearly all RPGs.Where the difference comes is in point iii, which is the resolution/narration phase that varies somewhat by system used.&nbsp; And in fact it's the DM who is constrained, not the players!The players can declare any action they like for their PCs.&nbsp; The DM, however, is constrained by her own notes/the module as to how that declaration is resolved and narrated: the map's not in this room so she's forced to narrate something amounting to &quot;You don't find it here&quot; no matter what any dice may say.Sometimes the DM is similarly constrained by the game rules: a player can declare anything as an action - her 4th-level Wizard casts a 7th-level Clerical spell or her Fighter puts on 6 magic rings at once expecting them all to function - and the DM is forced by the game rules to say something that boils down to &quot;That fails&quot;.Yes it does, in that the choices they make followed by the DM narration those choices provoke are what builds the story of the game; and it's this story that is the shared fiction. Lanefan</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7341826, member: 29398"] Actually, no they don't. They act as constraints on action resolution, which is a completely different phase of the process. Point ii above can - and one assumes will - happen exactly the same at the table regardless of whether the map's location is preauthored or free-floating: the players declare that their PCs search the study for the map. This is the action declaration phase, and probably is close to the same in nearly all RPGs. Where the difference comes is in point iii, which is the resolution/narration phase that varies somewhat by system used. And in fact [B]it's the DM who is constrained, not the players[/B]! The players can declare any action they like for their PCs. The DM, however, is constrained by her own notes/the module as to how that declaration is resolved and narrated: the map's not in this room so she's forced to narrate something amounting to "You don't find it here" no matter what any dice may say. Sometimes the DM is similarly constrained by the game rules: a player can declare anything as an action - her 4th-level Wizard casts a 7th-level Clerical spell or her Fighter puts on 6 magic rings at once expecting them all to function - and the DM is forced by the game rules to say something that boils down to "That fails". Yes it does, in that the choices they make followed by the DM narration those choices provoke are what builds the story of the game; and it's this story that is the shared fiction. Lanefan [/QUOTE]

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