Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="AverageCitizen" data-source="post: 4991473" data-attributes="member: 57845">Yeah, I'm being player-centric here, but you're definitely right. We DMs need to get our kicks too, but I have more fun when I manage to do both.Good on you guys. That sounds fun.I think that players that are more self-aware or more well-read (interesting how those tend to go together) are more able to isolate different parts of their personality or even potential personality and channel that into a character. But in DnD and in literature, the best characters are ones that we can relate to. So... I'd suggest that your players have more diverse, literate and well-developed fantasies, but you're still in the business of helping them explore those, just maybe one part at a time.Yeah sorry about that. I don't mean anything by it. For some people its just a game, but for some people its a game + some other interesting stuff. That's all I'm suggesting here.I think your amended thesis is a winner, but I don't think its as far from the original as it seems. I was just trying to make the point that sometimes the players don't have a conscious plan, but they still have hopes and experiences that we can leverage to make the story satisfying for them. If they've already got it figured out, then by all means help them get there, we just have to make sure their goals are validated with struggle and some supporting story elements.I read a book called "the Hero With a Thousand Faces" (I think) and it explored the fact that pretty much all popular stories speak to us on a deep level and something about them is familiar and relates to our own desires, fears, or experiences. Its kind of like that argument that there are only like 6 stories that get retold over and over, I forget the exact number. So I'd suggest that the reason there are so many complicated reasons why people like fiction is because people have many complicated layers in their psychological makeup. See what I'm saying? You've never day-dreamed about dying? About who would show up at your funeral and what they would say?You've never wanted to go out in a blaze of glory?I think when you say "a matter of how seriously the world and the characters are taken" you're getting really close. I hadn't thought about it that way, but yeah I think its something like that. I'll have to think about it.Yeah you get it. When I say every encounter do remember that we have more than one player here, so it doesn't have to be working for everybody. And also I'm talking about an ideal here. In practice things tend to get a bit murky...Note: Combats are not the only encounters I was referencing.Many fanfics are fantasies without validation. Just giving your players everything they are after may be what they think they want, but what they really want is a fight. How many times in your fantasies have you beaten the Joker without him making you earn it?</blockquote>

Verification