Zelknolf DMing

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Zelknolf
Chosen of Forumamus, God of Forums
Posts: 6139
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 7:04 pm

Re: Zelknolf DMing

Post by Zelknolf »

How to handle it:
If you're keen on initiating a roll, say/emote the thing that you're keen on using your skill to accomplish and send a message to #dm that you're hoping to make that work with a skill. Can probably just send the name of the skill and a question mark if you know I'm right there watching (but probably wise to send details if you're not sure I'm watching).


Explanation:
I call out the perception checks special mostly because you will probably only rarely actually see your perception checks. The fancy features I wrote to quickly resolve them are all invisible checks (by design-- knowing that you failed a spot check makes a few things weird and/or difficult).

But on the others, the problem is that if you roll first, I don't have a DC in mind, and there's a cognitive problem therein: if the value on the die is high or low, I'll end up regarding that as doing the task well or poorly regardless of the modified result (and to be fair it is good or bad, but it is for the character-- the problem is that the question is if it's good or bad for the task at hand, and the task at hand will not ruffle your hair and give you a "Personal Best!" trophy).

This reduces the value of having skills to begin with-- if you've always got a 25% chance to roll a 1-5 and have it be called garbage, and a 25% chance to roll a 16-20 and have it be called a complete success, with everything else being something unremarkable, why bother taking any skills? Max out the skills that the engine resolves; it follows the rules! -- of course, that's a pretty extreme example and in real circumstances it manifests way more subtly, but I am vulnerable to the same cognitive biases as everyone else and this is one of the ways I manage that.
Zelknolf
Chosen of Forumamus, God of Forums
Posts: 6139
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 7:04 pm

Re: Zelknolf DMing

Post by Zelknolf »

Added things that I just won't DM to the first post
•No detailed violence. Notice how Vonnegut expresses the horrible indirectly? I often try to emulate that style in things (I'm not Vonnegut, 'course, but we must have our aspirations if we're to improve ourselves)-- communicates what awful is going on without provoking the standard disgust response in people who've seen it firsthand. If you literally want an someone's guts for garters, you'll need a different DM.
•No immature humor. I even think I set the bar fairly low on this one, as I can enjoy a horrible joke same as most people, but you just don't need a DM to say poop really loudly. Characters behaving this way can expect to be ignored for a bit, but the closer to Jern your behavior is, the more likely it is that I'll just ask you to leave.
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