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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 8668901" data-attributes="member: 85555">The GM decides for NPCs, the Players decide for PCs. It isn't the GM determining how the situation will go if he is playing fairly, because how the situation goes isn't the point, the point is an honest character interaction. The players are still free to do what they want (they could stab the NPC to death and take what they need from them for example). But the point is the GM should have a clear idea going in of what the NPCs motives and and not fit those motives to some kind of outcome the GM wants. At least for me, that is how I approach it. It still isn't going to appeal to you if you don't like this kind of play but much of the reason I play this way is, as a GM I hate having preset outcomes and I hate guiding the players along. All I care about when I am running the NPC is what that NPC is motivated by, cares about, and what responsibilities they have. If the players make a proposal to that NPC or try to trick that NPC in some way (like in the goodfellas example), I am going to honest think through how the NPC reacts based on what I know about their motives (and if I can't decide for some reason, I might roll a die, but usually I have a good sense of it). I am not saying you can't have a more narrative approach. I am not trying to persuade someone who wants something different than I do in an RPG, that they should want what I want. I am saying this is what works for me. Even when I play narrative games, I much prefer something closer to what I am describing like Hillfolk that tends to be about things like what the characters want (and there are mechanics underlying some aspects of that but I find them fairly unobtrusive to the above style that I outlined). This is actually a game I really like because it does a good job of captured the 'all we did was role-play' aspect of play that can be fun, but because it is oriented around scenes and scene framing it doesn't just meandering and become characters talking endlessly in an inn: it leads to dramatic places. Sure, if you don't like GM authority in these situations, by all means use these systems. I don't have a problem with GM authority extending to NPCs motivations and behaviors. If a don't like how a particular GM does things, I might not play in games where that person GMs, but mostly I game with people who, even if they think about NPCs differently than I do, are good faith when it comes to this stuff.</blockquote>

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