tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post2473019013254193104..comments2023-10-14T03:58:59.333-06:00Comments on The Tao of D&D: CodependencyAlexis Smolenskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-10376043442592870682018-05-19T13:18:32.850-06:002018-05-19T13:18:32.850-06:00Getting information from the DM is not meta-gaming...Getting information from the DM is not meta-gaming. I know that people have gone down that road, but it is demonstrably false, rather easily. Is it meta-gaming when the DM describes a room?<br /><br />I'd argue that people backed away from the problem entirely, grasped without understanding why at the part of the game they could understand ... and then an outside marketing element, wishing to sell the game, interviewed the participants and derived a glossed-over superficial philosophy that has now been embraced as a game description, since it has received "official" approval. It's a lot of non-players and non-experts combining together to describe a game they don't understand.<br /><br />Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-69346690648114780532018-05-19T13:11:08.644-06:002018-05-19T13:11:08.644-06:00Because that would be meta-gaming...
Joking aside...Because that would be meta-gaming...<br /><br />Joking aside, I'm seeing a lot of connections between this discussion and elements of adventure games, "modern" or "indie" RPGs, and the online community.<br /><br />I'm beginning to think that a lot of people recognized issues with their players ~ a tendency to treat their characters like they're in a video game, or a reluctance to accept risk or challenging situations ~ and sought solutions like making entirely new games as opposed to changing how they ran their own games.<br /><br />Or maybe I'm drawing conclusions that don't exist.Ozymandiashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01065642299277380465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-90956990046887490242018-05-18T15:36:16.381-06:002018-05-18T15:36:16.381-06:00Silberman,
I'll confirm that players as real ...Silberman,<br /><br />I'll confirm that players as real people do struggle with the real world; we all do. And part of the appeal of D&D is that it is the only game in the world that has the power to present the player with that difficulty, contained in a bell jar. The DM is free to either puff up the player's ego, or crush it, and do so in the guise of an NPC with that appropriate motivation, and the player has to rise to that occasion. Can't do it with a VG, because the VG isn't real; it doesn't fire the hormones the way that having to speak with a real person in the presence of the DM does.<br /><br />To another point you make; the right answer is direct OOC questions. Players tend to think they should solve such problems "through roleplay." They forget that their characters grew up in this town, and ought to know as much about the guild hall as they deserve to know; and that the DM is beholden to give them this information. It's no good that a DM tries to be stingy. "I'm from this town. This is not my first time in this guild hall. I have talked about the hall to people all the time. What, DM, is this dining room for?"<br /><br />At which point, I would tell them. But the player in this instance decided to ask the concierge, the NPC; and in that relationship, I have to BE the concierge, and not the conducive, obliging, generous DM. For some dumb reason, players consistently think the "game" is stumbling around, asking non-player characters stuff, as though they, the characters, were just born yesterday ... oh, wait, they probably got that idea from playing a VG! Where you can't talk to the programmer! Because the "game" in a VG means to start as an ignorant boob and learn things about a very tiny, very closed, very minimalist system, where your "character" is a blank surface the game presents to.<br /><br />That is not D&D, or role-playing, where your character is a PERSON, who has lived DECADES before the game starts, who has KNOWLEDGE of stuff. But players, on the whole, just don't get it.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-70798036418696291712018-05-18T09:47:18.900-06:002018-05-18T09:47:18.900-06:00This is a fantastic post, Alexis. It really digs i...This is a fantastic post, Alexis. It really digs into a subject I'm currently wrestling with, so much appreciated and timely. <br /><br />I wonder if players struggling to approach the game world in an informed manner might have additional challenges running in the "real world" as opposed to a DM's "whole cloth" setting (accepting that the latter will actually be a compendium of received wisdom and outside influences). <br /><br />On the one hand, playing in the real world, I can refer to a wealth of non-game writings for information. But on the other, seeking clarification about history and social norms from the DM or other players opens me up to feelings of being insufficiebtly well-read. This can be tough to overcome. In the case of a DM's homebrew world, player ignorance is more easily attributed to the DM giving insufficient background. <br /><br />In the example you give here, how should players get themselves up to speed on a new feature, like the guildhall? Online research before committing to a game move? Direct OOC questions to the DM? The default for many people seems to be either extreme overcaution or brash recklessness in the face of the unfamiliar. Silbermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03634048670337733047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-6424760567312859202018-05-18T06:45:45.443-06:002018-05-18T06:45:45.443-06:00I don't see that it's an either/or. If I c...I don't see that it's an either/or. If I can think of an example of play that I can offer, to express my point, then I will use it, and if my only option is to explain, I will do that. We use the tools that we can reach.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-20837588603990890802018-05-18T06:05:03.080-06:002018-05-18T06:05:03.080-06:00Over the years, you've introduced people to ro...Over the years, you've introduced people to role-playing, as suggested by the last podcast: how does that experience differ from this one?<br /><br />In the one, you're working with someone who has never role-played before. In the other, you're working with someone who hasn't learned to role-play well.<br /><br />At what point do you stop educating by explication and start by way of example?Ozymandiashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01065642299277380465noreply@blogger.com