Sean Merwin

And as Tao said earlier, that's why D&D tends to be so popular is because there is a form of consistency in the system where you either have a set number that you know you're rolling against, the armor class of a monster. You have a set DC for certain checks. Standard lock, say DC 15. Or it's easily found. Oh, you're trying to stealth pass the bugbears? I have their perception right here.

And as Tao said earlier, that's why D&D tends to be so popular is because there is a form of consistency in the system where you either have a set number that you know you're rolling against, the armor class of a monster. You have a set DC for certain checks. Standard lock, say DC 15. Or it's easily found. Oh, you're trying to stealth pass the bugbears? I have their perception right here.

Let me roll versus your check. Or let me use their passive against your check. That's quick. That conversation can take a lot of time.

Let me roll versus your check. Or let me use their passive against your check. That's quick. That conversation can take a lot of time.

Yeah, it's It's the what works for your game and your players addendum to any rule. By making the rule, you are making the world. And like you say, Teos, D&D expects you to, on these not the microtransaction checks of combat, but on these larger checks of opening doors, picking locks, finding traps, it expects you to.

Yeah, it's It's the what works for your game and your players addendum to any rule. By making the rule, you are making the world. And like you say, Teos, D&D expects you to, on these not the microtransaction checks of combat, but on these larger checks of opening doors, picking locks, finding traps, it expects you to.

it's sort of a weird game in that there are supposed to be these consequences for failing, but there never really are for a good percentage of the thing, right? True. Because you overcome them in some way, or the story is better if you succeed, so you just succeed. because we want you to find the secret door because that's where the adventure is.

it's sort of a weird game in that there are supposed to be these consequences for failing, but there never really are for a good percentage of the thing, right? True. Because you overcome them in some way, or the story is better if you succeed, so you just succeed. because we want you to find the secret door because that's where the adventure is.

We want you to get the king or queen to agree to your terms because that's where the adventure is. Right, right.

We want you to get the king or queen to agree to your terms because that's where the adventure is. Right, right.

Just awkward.

Just awkward.

So, in many ways, we come from an organized play background where you sort of want things to happen. in a way that is reasonably close from table to table. You don't want one DM making the DC five and another DM making it a DC 20 based on anything, based on role play, based on situation. You want it to be that because that's how games are supposed to work, right?

So, in many ways, we come from an organized play background where you sort of want things to happen. in a way that is reasonably close from table to table. You don't want one DM making the DC five and another DM making it a DC 20 based on anything, based on role play, based on situation. You want it to be that because that's how games are supposed to work, right?

You're supposed to play sort of by the same rules. So it's that the ludonarrative dissonance is always there, and you sort of have to figure out how much of it you can accept as the game master, how much the players are willing to accept as players, and find the happy medium for your game.

You're supposed to play sort of by the same rules. So it's that the ludonarrative dissonance is always there, and you sort of have to figure out how much of it you can accept as the game master, how much the players are willing to accept as players, and find the happy medium for your game.

But as a game designer, you still have to do the hard work of, all right, if it's a D6 role and you succeed on a 4, 5, or 6, what resources am I giving the players to lower that to a 3, to lower that to a 2? And each time I do, it's 16.7% chance more that they're going to succeed. What sort of threshold do I want in my game for those things?

But as a game designer, you still have to do the hard work of, all right, if it's a D6 role and you succeed on a 4, 5, or 6, what resources am I giving the players to lower that to a 3, to lower that to a 2? And each time I do, it's 16.7% chance more that they're going to succeed. What sort of threshold do I want in my game for those things?

And that then dictates how many resources you're going to get players to be able to fudge that number or fudge the probabilities.

And that then dictates how many resources you're going to get players to be able to fudge that number or fudge the probabilities.