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Message: <blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6100723" data-attributes="member: 6681948">I find the scene skipping parameters have changed a lot over the course of this discussion.  Your initial statement was that you Summon the centipede to send a message that you are not remotely interested in engaging in anything within the desert, sight unseen, don't care what is in the desert, don't care how many different scenes it might entail and just asking me "Will you ride it bareback or try to rig up something to help you hang on" makes me a bad DM for not immediately letting you press the "I Win - No Desert" button.  Now, however, the players should make a commitment to try to play through the scene, and any request to skip the scene should be rare, and only ONE scene, not a series of scenes or specific types of challenges.  So which is it, and how often is acceptable or unacceptable?But it's OK for Charlie to tell the GM "shut up and cut scene" (ie the GM asked how the team would secure themselves to the centipede, so Charlie gets shirty)?  Again, how far have we moved from your initial shorthand of the situation?  We have clearly moved, and you are clearly telling us that your initial description was not accurately interpreted by us, but I don't know where the new parameters lie.Is it OK for one or more other players to tell the GM that, for them, this scene is relevant, is enjoyable and they do want to play it out?  IOW, is it only OK to complain if your fun is reduced/spoiled by the presence, rather than the absence, of the scene?  I note that you suggested that only a bad DM would have you return with your spearmen only to discover the Grell had sought greener pastures, so clearly removal of a scene is not always acceptable, but there was no indication in that case that another player had indicated playing out another fight with the Grell was unfun for him.  Let's assume one does - what takes precedence, your desire to get revenge on the grell or his desire to get on to something more interesting?And for some players, the assumption is that any challenge to their "I win - move on" tactic can only arise because the GM is trying to block their brilliant solution, and cannot possibly be a natural interaction of their tactics to the scenario as already written.  You mention above the need to assume that the players aren't just being dicks.  Why does your DM not get the same benefit of the doubt?  You're assuming the GM is so jealous of your brilliant plan that he's making up obstacles to thwart you, rather than giving you the benefits of your strategy based on a reasoned assessment of how it interacts with the existing scenario and environment.  If a giant Roc who finds centipedes delicious swoops out of the sky each time you summon a centipede, returning to the skies after chomping it down, then I would agree with you that the GM seems to be making up a plot to foil your plan.  The possibility there was an escarpment in the desert, a monster waiting in concealment to spring an ambush, a creature that can move faster than a 40move rate or any of a number of other encounters that could still occur despite the centipede seems one that can hardly be dismissed out of hand.  It's also tough for the players to know what they did avoid unless the GM makes statements like "you pass by a village of desert nomads who probably would have attacked you for your supplies if you had been on foot" or "the centipede is too big/fast so the concealed trapdoor spider does not attack".They might have to break out the ropes and climb (and be at a disavantage in the event there is an encounter at that location, all dangly from those ropes).  Perhaps they have to go around the escarpment, adding time to their journey (and tension to the race, if the crossing is time-sensitive), so the centipede might well give the characters a significant advantage - but they still need a way to hang on!  Perhaps a careful search reveals a cave - is it worth exploring it to see whether it provides an easier route than climbing or circling round the escarpment?  Or maybe they would have summoned a creature that can fly or climb and used it to haul a length of rope to the top of the cliff and stand there while one character climbs up and ties the rope off.  It hardly seems impossible that characters with the resources to have the centipede available all day might, with a different group with different abilities, have means of dealing with the escarpment, even if we let out entirely the possibility they can't just walk across the desert in a straight line without moving around some obstacles.OK, celebrim has already said he sees no real motivation to your BW Sword scene.  Cancel it - what's the next scene, and let's see if we find it any more engaging.  A lot less scenes will engage the player if the player dismisses the scene at the outset rather than making some effort to interact with it and see what it has to offer.  "No, desert travel is boring, you must move along immediately" means that no scene within the desert gets any chance to engage the player.  "A sheer vertical escarpment - lucky we have this centipede, guys, or we'd have to go around.  Now, how can we secure ourselves to hang on up the sheer rock face." seems likely to present a much more engaging scene then "You just put that escarpment there because you're mad my ingenious plan allowed us to avoid your boring irrelevant desert encounters - I demand you remove it and skip immediately to our arrival in the city, you bad DM you"</blockquote>

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