thread: 2010-06-14 : A Bit of Hardcore
On 2010-06-15, Christian Griffen wrote:
I'm with Vincent—I want dice to take some GM burdens off me.
I've been playing and GMing online RP games (chat and messages) since 1996, for a while there for 40+ hours a week. Most of that was diceless, either character ownership based (no GM) or pure unadulterated GM fiat. And GMing those without dice became horribly taxing.
On the surface, players either want fairness, realism, wish fulfilment or drama. That alone males GM decisions an exercise in social balancing. Underneath that are relationships that further complicate the matter.
Here's an example. I'm GMing an ancient Egypt game. A plague of (conjured) locusts attacks. The players are safe in a building but hear an NPC screaming outside. I thought that was mostly dramatic color, because going out to save him would be near-certain suicide. Now, all of the players decide their PCs charge out to save the NPCs. What do I as the GM do now? Realism says they get chewed up badly, either disfigured for life or even dead. That would also end the storyline. More dramatic would be to have just one of them severely hurt and the others saving that PC as well, then have to deal with that consequence. But who do I pick? And is that player still going to have fun? Did they even undwerstand the possible consequences of their action or assume that, as protagonists, they're gonna be ok?
If I had a dice roll available, I'd say: "anyone going out to save the guy rolls D6. 1, you're fine. 2-3, you're hurt. 4-5, you'll suffer severe, lasting wounds. 6 and you're dead." Now I have clearly communicated the exact risk involved and established a clear mechanism for determining who suffers what, avoiding social and fairness issues. At the same time, this not only preserves but emphasizes the dramatic severity of the scene. Big load off my shoulders and support for what the scene is about.
