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Message: <blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6106443" data-attributes="member: 6681948">Then.The.Setting.Matters.  So if the player lacked the Minotaur option, and it was Ettins or nothing, could the same character still fit into the game world?  If not, I'd call that a pretty significant impact the setting has had on the game.  If the setting is that desert which leads to the expectation of mounted archers and scimitar wielders, what impact does that have on Fred's Longbow expert Ranger?  Presumably, he wasn't raised in the local area, found to have aptitude with a longbow at a fairly young age at a local fair and trained by one of several dozen local members of a society that favoured longbow expertise.So make the desert seem real until it inconceniences me, then handwave it away.  Got it.Sure.  We can also assume they had  no difficulty defeating the Grell in the first encounter without playing it out thoroughly at the table.  But the "game" aspect of RPG suggests we play more difficult challenges out at the table, only dismissing matters of mundane simplicity.  Is it a slam dunk that any L2 to 3 PC team who just had their butts handed to them by a supernatural creature in a deep, dark hole can go to MercenaryJobShop.com and pick up a six pack of generic longspearmen to work for a day for pocket change, or is there a material chance of failure with a potential for significant complications arising therefrom, and/oe even the possibility of getting a better result that you had anticipated?  We can play a videogame style where no NPC ever puts two words together and they are all exactly identical, too.  The PC`s can be capable of moving in only four directions (no diagonals), with choices of `Fight` or `Flee`should they encounter an enemy, and `Purchase` or ``Leave Store`in town, with each establishment having identical product offerings and price lists for their respective commodity.  I don`t think any of us go nearly to that extreme, but we could.In Celebrim`s game world, the question isn`t even whether it will be easy or take time and effort with a chance of failure, but whether it is even remotely possible.  That, again, is the setting coming back to impact on the game.  The War isn`t background colour - it means able warriors aren`t readily available for hire.OK, we established with Hussar, I believe, that the players are not interested in anything that delays their ability to do whatever that nebulous goal within City B is. And the day after Game Day we see on the internet what a jackass pemerton is for making us play out our means of accessing the city through a shut gate or a seige when we it was so crystal clear that the players are not interested in anything that delays their ability to do whatever that nebulous goal within City B is.  How is it that you can assume that they will unquestionably be interested and engaged in finding access to the city, but simultaneously fully understand and support their complete lack of interest in any complication that rests in 500 miles of wasteland that stands between them and the complication to gaining access to the city?I`ve questioned whether Hussar is the only guy at the table chafing at having to spend time on the desert crossing, but let`s assume the players are 100% unanimous in their desire to get straight to the action within City B.  How would they be any less put out at arriving immediately at the city only to find their access impeded (and let`s say with gaining access a process which will occupy the rest of the game session, such that it will end for this week just as they enter the city) than they would be by having to play out crossing the desert to get to the city (with that process occupying the rest of the game session, such that it will end for the week just as they reach the city and walk through the open gates to a cry of `Hail and Welcome, Travelers` from the guard captain on the wall.  In both cases, they wanted to get immediately to what waits within City B.  In both cases, they got there only after playing out some impediment to same.  In both cases, they gained access at exactly the same time.  Yet, in one case, you find it completely reasonable they did not want to play out the complication, and in the other you are shocked by any possibility that the complication would cause so much as a raised eyebrow.I have no difficulty with those positions.  However, I do have difficulty with the suggestion that `your game`has some moral obligation to bend to `my preferred playstyle`.  For Hussar to say Ì didn`t like the group playstyle so I left and didn`t game until I found a group that matched my preferences perfectly`is one thing.  To say `that was a bad GM` because he failed to transform his game into Hussar`s perfect playground is quite another.And the more particular the player is about his preferences - his way or the highway - the less likely I suggest it is that he will find a game that meets with his standards.  I expect that is the reason many of us say that we`ll sit through some gameplay that is not our top pick in the interests of everyone having fun.  I would also suggest that this willingness may depend a lot on the gaming group.  A group of friends outside the game will, I expect, be more tolerant of differing gamestyles than a group of gamers who have no connection outside the game.  In the latter case, there is much less stake in making anyone else happy.Hussar suggests that skipping a scene is a `once in a campaign` kind of thing, but the scenes he describes as so mind-numbingly boring and uninteresting that he simply can`t bear to go on strike me as pretty common occurences in a great many games.  I suspect finding the game where a scene he wishes to skip occurs only once in a campaign (and how long is that supposed to be, exactly - assume 48 sessions, typically weekly, of 3-4 hours a year, how long between skips?) will be about as easy as hiring those half dozen generic warriors in Celebrim`s campaign, but maybe you two live in an area where there are dozens or hundreds of game groups all actively seeking new players, so finding the perfect fit is only a matter of interviewing enough groups.(hmmm...where have I heard of spending time talking with other people to discern whether their goals are compatible with my own to avoid later disappointment recently?)</blockquote>

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