Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7376600" data-attributes="member: 29398">In a novel with only one moving piece, it doesn't matter.  In an RPG where one assumes at least a passing nod to realism is being given (and if it isn't, I'm out) if the main party goes north for three days (say, 45 miles made good) and the PC with the villagers goes south for two days (20 miles, they're moving slowly) before finding a refuge for them, if the PC with the villagers now wants to leave them and catch up to the main party how long is that gonna take?  65 miles...assuming normal movement rates etc. that's 3 quite long days or more likely 4 reasonable ones; and that's assuming the main party stays put and doesn't go further north.Going back to the Middle Earth example - this would have been something JRRT paid meticulous attention to, with all the different pieces in motion across the setting: time and distance.And passing mention is made of a surprising amount of it in JRRT's books, leaving the reader often wondering "what's the story behind that?".  This is why his estate has been able to keep churning out supplemental books, is to answer these questions. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I say it's still good to have those passing mentions in there, if only to fuel curiosity either then or later.That looks like some cool stuff there.However, it's perhaps a tangential example to what I'm saying, for these reasons:1. In your write-up it seems the various locations referenced are quite close together - each a staircase apart, if I read it right - and so there's very limited opportunity (or need) to introduce intersections and-or other geographical features.2. This seems to be an example of epic-level play (one of the PCs is already a god, for Pete's sake!) near or at the end of a campaign, which implies most of the fundamental choices have already been made and any earlier distractions long since dealt with.  It's a bit late to be introducing something as trivial as a slave being beaten. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Yet with that said, you were still introducing DM-driven complications...3. Further to 2 above, we don't see here how direct or indirect the party's path has been to get to this point; how often they veered off course, or whether there was any point when they could have lost the trail of the story entirely and thus never got this far at all.Quite to the contrary, I'm not ignoring the significance of player choice at all - I'm advocating that they get the opportunity to make those choices in the first place! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  They see a slave being beaten - do they divert to help the slave or not?  They pass numerous intersections while traversing a passage with the angels - do they divert to explore these or not?  While sneaking through the castle halls to a place where they can eavesdrop on the king's council they pass an open door to a bedroom full of treasure - do they (or does the party thief) divert to steal some or not?  We'll never know if you-as-DM don't mention these little vignettes in passing and give them the opportunity.This is what I'm after, and it has to come from the DM.That sort of game really seems to assume the players will be quite goal-oriented; and if so I'd rather see the DM framing scenes and introducing vignettes in passing that are intended to try and divert them from their goals or frustrate them from achieving such, rather than just relying on the luck of the dice to provide you with these opportunities.And if a group of players aren't necessarily that goal-oriented and just want to play for gits and shiggles, how's that gonna work?Lanefan</blockquote>

Verification