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You're doing what? Surprising the DM
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 6109937" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>And, thus, the difference in playstyles. You want a much more sim approach to a game, where the players should play out every scene where there is a chance of failure. We interact with the desert because the desert is there. It's on the map the DM has, and we have to interact with it. We have to play out hiring the mercenaries because, as you say, it would make very little sense to not play it out - these are "real people".</p><p></p><p>To me, none of this is true. The desert is not relevant to the city just because of geography. The players have nothing invested in the desert, so, skip the desert. The players, not the DM, determine what is relevant and what is not. At least, in the way I want to play. Sorry, don't want to be accused of trying to generalize here.</p><p></p><p>If the players started making the desert relevant - by asking questions, by expending resources, by directly stating they want to explore the desert - then fine. Go for it. But, when the players present the DM with a means (not a perfect means, but at least a plausible one) of skipping the desert and then show zero interest in the desert itself, then my advice is to skip the desert.</p><p></p><p>Random giant scorpions in the desert are not relevant to the city. The players have indicated that they are invested in the city and not the desert, thus, don't bomb in random giant scorpions. </p><p></p><p>The back stories of six hirelings that are meant to be around for one scene is not something that the players are interested in. If they were interested, they would ask. They would initiate things. They would start talking to the hirelings. If they don't, then they likely don't care and just go with the basic, Warrior 1 hirelings that they ask for and get to the stuff that they have clearly stated they WANT to be engaged in - defeating the grell. And, yes, if the grell surrendered that would probably be fine. At least the grell is there to be interacted with. Ten thousand times better than spending significant table time interviewing a bunch of random NPC's and then the grell has left the building.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The desert around Las Vegas is not particularly relevant to my wanting to gamble in Las Vegas. The zombie horde surrounding Las Vegas really is relevant. Even if the siege has nothing to do with our goals within the city, there's no escaping that the siege is going to play into our plans for the city.</p><p></p><p>There is no way the desert becomes a time factor for the city. At least, not until we interact with the desert. And we have no reason to interact with the desert. None. There is nothing invested for the characters. Yes, you can add in things after the fact. But nothing changes the fact that it's the DM forcing this on the players. It's entirely reactive. The players showed no interest in interacting with the desert and actually showed the opposite - wanting to cross the desert in the most expeditious way possible.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 6109937, member: 22779"] And, thus, the difference in playstyles. You want a much more sim approach to a game, where the players should play out every scene where there is a chance of failure. We interact with the desert because the desert is there. It's on the map the DM has, and we have to interact with it. We have to play out hiring the mercenaries because, as you say, it would make very little sense to not play it out - these are "real people". To me, none of this is true. The desert is not relevant to the city just because of geography. The players have nothing invested in the desert, so, skip the desert. The players, not the DM, determine what is relevant and what is not. At least, in the way I want to play. Sorry, don't want to be accused of trying to generalize here. If the players started making the desert relevant - by asking questions, by expending resources, by directly stating they want to explore the desert - then fine. Go for it. But, when the players present the DM with a means (not a perfect means, but at least a plausible one) of skipping the desert and then show zero interest in the desert itself, then my advice is to skip the desert. Random giant scorpions in the desert are not relevant to the city. The players have indicated that they are invested in the city and not the desert, thus, don't bomb in random giant scorpions. The back stories of six hirelings that are meant to be around for one scene is not something that the players are interested in. If they were interested, they would ask. They would initiate things. They would start talking to the hirelings. If they don't, then they likely don't care and just go with the basic, Warrior 1 hirelings that they ask for and get to the stuff that they have clearly stated they WANT to be engaged in - defeating the grell. And, yes, if the grell surrendered that would probably be fine. At least the grell is there to be interacted with. Ten thousand times better than spending significant table time interviewing a bunch of random NPC's and then the grell has left the building. The desert around Las Vegas is not particularly relevant to my wanting to gamble in Las Vegas. The zombie horde surrounding Las Vegas really is relevant. Even if the siege has nothing to do with our goals within the city, there's no escaping that the siege is going to play into our plans for the city. There is no way the desert becomes a time factor for the city. At least, not until we interact with the desert. And we have no reason to interact with the desert. None. There is nothing invested for the characters. Yes, you can add in things after the fact. But nothing changes the fact that it's the DM forcing this on the players. It's entirely reactive. The players showed no interest in interacting with the desert and actually showed the opposite - wanting to cross the desert in the most expeditious way possible. [/QUOTE]
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