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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 9032226" data-attributes="member: 82106">I cannot speak to all narrative RPGs of course, but in PbtA games this option doesn't exist at all. I guess the GM could try to interpret player actions in terms of unfavorable moves, but this is not going to go far and will soon collapse into silliness. In FitD-based games the position is an attribute of the current state of the situation. The GM sets this variable but this reflects the risk factor involved, so a GM who is sandbagging here will soon become obvious. In scores the position USUALLY follows from previous moves, unless something in the fiction is really different or a player chooses to do something really crazy, etc. Likewise effect is FAIRLY objective! I mean, I'm a master swordsman, I'm hacking at someone full on with my favorite fine katana. If the GM seriously wants to call that limited effect, he better have some explanation! Either the guy I'm taking on is a super bad-ass who can mitigate most of my attack, or he's made of solid electro-shielded adamantium! I should know these things going in. Now, yes, some situations in BitD might be both murky enough and subjective enough that the GM's opinion makes the course of action non-viable. OTOH BitD will resist that a lot, because character A can do a setup move (flashback to burgling her flat to find some extra leverage), B can assist (pose as another coworker who's going to be irate if bro can't get his stuff in order), and C can pull 2 stress to get an extra die, and maybe even dump in a resource use to up the effect. I've just dropped an extra 3d6 into my pool and jacked the effect by a level. Yeah, the GM made us burn some stress/resource/loadout for that win, but its very hard to hold back a determined crew!In 4e the GM could theoretically toss a really nasty encounter or obnoxious SC at you, but the rules still dictate there are limits to how lopsided the odds can be before the thing is clearly no longer fair play. I think in a practical sense a GM can do some steering of play, but these sorts of games are generally quite up front, there's just not a real way for the GM to railroad in a consistent fashion and still play by the rules. This is a LOT less of a concern than it would be in a trad D&D game, where by the letter of the rules the GM can fudge rolls, alter situations, etc. all without any mechanism for the players to even know it happened unless it is really blatant.</blockquote>

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