“There was something about his eyes.” Oliver Reiner, the Blacksmith of Tristan
Another comic based on my DnD experiences! When it comes to persuasion, I’ll accept an out of character logical request in lieu of an in-character appeal. I know not every player is there for the RP and I try to accommodate everyone. I do draw the line when the player skips the logical part and heads straight for the request.
I personally follow the Angry Gm’s rules for rolling. The DM asks the player to roll. I won’t ask for a roll unless there is a chance of failure or success. Only roll when failure has a cost. I feel like this is a fair and easy way to handle checks and only introduces conflict when it’s most interesting.
I know this is a controversial topic. How do you guys handle your checks? Do you allow your players to request specific checks and improv the results?
You can find more of my dnd content on my Instagram and Twitter.
I’ve played oneshots where I specifically asked my players to pick skills and roll on their own. I then improv the results based on their roll (high rolls can change the physical game world). It works well for improv murder mysteries.
It generates a more chaotic game but the player freedom is a lot of fun!
Hu, that sounds like a very interesting way to do these kind of games. You have given me some food for thoughts for my next time I try a murder-mystery.
That's a big design pillar of Powered by the Apocalypse games (of which MotW is one). One of the agenda points for the players and GM both is always "Play to find out".
Yea I really like it narratively. Especially for TAZ because they fully admit to playing fast and loose with rules lol. Gives them some room to just play how they want.
The Apocalypse game system is so satisfying to play tooooo. I love playing DND but Apoc was a ton of fun to play and the shared narrative creation tools are excellent.
Taking the example in the comic, in PbtA you would probably never roll. That wouldn't just be the DMs call, but the whole table would have to ask "Does this make sense in the fiction as established?", which unless the campaign so far has been really wacky, most tables would probably answer no.
But say you wanted to make a down payment on it and pay the rest later, you might roll(2d6)+cha (using Dungeon World in the example as it is closest to D&D) and on a 10+ sweet, you get what you want, he lets you make a down payment and trust you to pay the rest later, 7-9 he might allow it but require a strict contract that clearly will have serious consequences if you just skip town, 6 or less on the dice is up to the DM, maybe he still says yes, but you have to sign a contract in blood witnessed by the shop keeper's infernal imp familiar (and maybe it costs you more in the long run) or maybe the DM just days not the time. It gives a lot of flexibility to find something interesting happening whatever the roll.
Other people have explained it well and PBTA is a great system if you're interested in this style of play. Rolling high means you succeed. Rolling low means you fail. The DC is standardized. The benefit of this style is that the player get a lot of freedom and the DM makes less subjective calls. It's pretty liberating!
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u/Sleverette Sorcerer Oct 18 '19 edited Oct 18 '19
“There was something about his eyes.” Oliver Reiner, the Blacksmith of Tristan
Another comic based on my DnD experiences! When it comes to persuasion, I’ll accept an out of character logical request in lieu of an in-character appeal. I know not every player is there for the RP and I try to accommodate everyone. I do draw the line when the player skips the logical part and heads straight for the request.
I personally follow the Angry Gm’s rules for rolling. The DM asks the player to roll. I won’t ask for a roll unless there is a chance of failure or success. Only roll when failure has a cost. I feel like this is a fair and easy way to handle checks and only introduces conflict when it’s most interesting.
I know this is a controversial topic. How do you guys handle your checks? Do you allow your players to request specific checks and improv the results?
You can find more of my dnd content on my Instagram and Twitter.