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You're doing what? Surprising the DM
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<blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6110336" data-attributes="member: 6681948"><p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">So the fact that the siege IS a breadcrumb, and the desert would need to have a breadcrumb ADDED is now relevant? When the Players say "we go through the desert to the city", their goal is, at a minimum, to enter the city. If the nomads, or the refugees, or the siege, get in their way, the result is the same - the players are blocked from their goal of entering the city by something the GM placed in their way, which they did not know about until they came across something which made them aware of it. They might be able to use the nomads, the refugees, or the siege, to advance their goals. Certainly, the fact they are in the way affects their goal. But the siege can be one which has no relevance, and the nomads, refugees, or anything else in the desert, can be relevant.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">There is another dimension, of course. They can each lie in a different area between "highly engaging" and "extremely boring". But that can't be known in advance, and can be the case regardless of relevance.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Until the GM runs the encounter with the siege (even so simple as "off in the distance, you see tents, wagons and creatures/people milling about), players have no resource from the siege. Like the nomads, or the refugees, they have to encounter it first.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The players have to narrate their PC's crossing the desert ("we ride our centipede") and wait for the GM to frame a siege encounter (in Hussar's terms, wait for the GM to lay a trail of breadcrumbs). This is reactive, not proactive.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Once the GM frames a siege or nomad encounter, the players aren't waiting for the GM. There is something to which they can react. Until the GM frames the encounter, the players are waiting for the GM.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The major difference I perceive from the MMO world is that the MMO world requires you to kep pushing the "go forward" key to cross the desert. It does not fast forward until something (whether somehing you want or not, whether something you expect or not) interrupts your journey. A a minimum, in game, the "step forward" time should not be played out. I've never seen a GM require the players to state each step "left foot, right foot", until arriving somewhere.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Again, this comes back to two issues. How frequent (and I think you have answered that as "very infrequent"), and what happens if the players lack the hive mind to all agree on which scenes shoul be played out? Whoever is the easiest bored and most finicky about the scenes played calls the shots? All players must agree? X% of the players must agree? Here, I generally defer to the GM, but would have no problem with the GROUP perceiving things dragging in an area suggesting we cut that aspect short. The group. Not any one single player.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It will or will not have an impact as th game plays out. If the siege stays outside and the PC's stay inside, the siege is entirely background and has no more impact on play than the desert outside.</p><p></p><p>That's why the siege is relevant. It's always relevant no matter what the players do. Even if they just fly over the siege, the city is still under siege. But, the desert? Doesn't really matter a whole lot. The nomads are still out there somewhere but, since they aren't linked to our goals, who cares?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And yet this is about the only way Pemerton finds the nomads acceptable at all. Different playstyles indeed.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>An excellent point. You made the choice to recruit mercenaries, you make the choice how much or how little work to put into the vetting process, you play out the consequences.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="N'raac, post: 6110336, member: 6681948"] [INDENT] So the fact that the siege IS a breadcrumb, and the desert would need to have a breadcrumb ADDED is now relevant? When the Players say "we go through the desert to the city", their goal is, at a minimum, to enter the city. If the nomads, or the refugees, or the siege, get in their way, the result is the same - the players are blocked from their goal of entering the city by something the GM placed in their way, which they did not know about until they came across something which made them aware of it. They might be able to use the nomads, the refugees, or the siege, to advance their goals. Certainly, the fact they are in the way affects their goal. But the siege can be one which has no relevance, and the nomads, refugees, or anything else in the desert, can be relevant. There is another dimension, of course. They can each lie in a different area between "highly engaging" and "extremely boring". But that can't be known in advance, and can be the case regardless of relevance.[/INDENT] Until the GM runs the encounter with the siege (even so simple as "off in the distance, you see tents, wagons and creatures/people milling about), players have no resource from the siege. Like the nomads, or the refugees, they have to encounter it first. The players have to narrate their PC's crossing the desert ("we ride our centipede") and wait for the GM to frame a siege encounter (in Hussar's terms, wait for the GM to lay a trail of breadcrumbs). This is reactive, not proactive. Once the GM frames a siege or nomad encounter, the players aren't waiting for the GM. There is something to which they can react. Until the GM frames the encounter, the players are waiting for the GM. The major difference I perceive from the MMO world is that the MMO world requires you to kep pushing the "go forward" key to cross the desert. It does not fast forward until something (whether somehing you want or not, whether something you expect or not) interrupts your journey. A a minimum, in game, the "step forward" time should not be played out. I've never seen a GM require the players to state each step "left foot, right foot", until arriving somewhere. Again, this comes back to two issues. How frequent (and I think you have answered that as "very infrequent"), and what happens if the players lack the hive mind to all agree on which scenes shoul be played out? Whoever is the easiest bored and most finicky about the scenes played calls the shots? All players must agree? X% of the players must agree? Here, I generally defer to the GM, but would have no problem with the GROUP perceiving things dragging in an area suggesting we cut that aspect short. The group. Not any one single player. It will or will not have an impact as th game plays out. If the siege stays outside and the PC's stay inside, the siege is entirely background and has no more impact on play than the desert outside. That's why the siege is relevant. It's always relevant no matter what the players do. Even if they just fly over the siege, the city is still under siege. But, the desert? Doesn't really matter a whole lot. The nomads are still out there somewhere but, since they aren't linked to our goals, who cares? And yet this is about the only way Pemerton finds the nomads acceptable at all. Different playstyles indeed. An excellent point. You made the choice to recruit mercenaries, you make the choice how much or how little work to put into the vetting process, you play out the consequences. [/QUOTE]
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