Table Topics # 88 – The Matrix Response

Personally, I’m a big fan of mechanics-transparency. It might be from my hippy-gaming habits, but Fate and Cortex Plus started me down this path. As was mentioned, Shadow of the Demon Lord also has this with challenge rolls, but it’s not something throughout the system.

Quicker Actions & Player Control

One of the best reasons why I like this is so that players know right away the outcome of an action. This makes their action go faster, and at the same time lets the player describe their actions. Personally, I’m a big fan of player owning their rolls: success or failure, the description is in their hands.

As was mentioned by Devon and his co-host Michael (~11min), it gives the player more control of their character, since they get to tell you why/how their character failed/succeeded. It’s their character, let them tell you!

SNEAKY GM TRICK This also makes for more variety and creative descriptions. If the GM narrates everything—success or failure—they’re going to run out of cool ideas. This allows you to “outsource” the creativity to your players. More fun for the players, less mental load for the GM. Win/win in my book!

Main Stats (~12min)

I reveal the target numbers for any roll players make, regardless of their source. Again, this makes things go quicker. It’s also helpful when attacking the BBEG so they players know the AC/Defense/etc…and you can watch them cringe at how big it is.

As for non-attackable stats, I don’t tell them until it comes into play. I won’t announce “this dragon has a 20 Agility until they make an Agility challenge roll. But I will narrate how agile the thing is to hint at it. Let the players learn with their characters the strengths and weaknesses of their opposition. Unless they have already encountered the creature before, then I’ll remind them if they ask. When dealing with health/hit points, I’ll let them know when the enemy hits 50% and 25%. But I won’t give them specific numbers. Most games that have HP/health the minutia of them don’t matter, but in SotDL and D&D4e there are some abilities that trigger when a creature is below 50% health/HP.

To Devon (~13m40s): I agree that you should share results with the party. Unless there is a specific reason that you won’t be able to share the info, it should be available to all players when learned.

To Michael (~15m30s): This is why I don’t reveal information until after the characters have interacted with the specific element. Don’t tell the players “Agility is its weak point” unless their characters know that somehow. Learning with the characters is part of the fun, for me.

Devon (~16m): Yes, ask for description. Make the success awesome. (~17min) Players as co-director is cool, yeah. “That wouldn’t be very fun” lol! I’ve been accused of playing with my food too much. So I like it, but I’ve overdone it a few time.

Not the most efficient, the most fun (~18m07s)

I couldn’t agree more! If the game is a TV show, movie, or book, the players are not the directors, actors, and audience. Go with what’s best for the drama, what the audience wants.

Michael (~20min): Another great point; sharing the difficulties first lets the players know you’re not fudging it. For me, it’s a net plus. My inclination is to make things easy for the players, so I use the openness as my co-GM to keep me honest.

Devon: Yeah, there are always good reasons to fudge dice rolls/difficulty numbers. However, most of the games I play have “fail at a cost” or “partial success”, so that isn’t that big a deal for me.

Hit points and other meta numbers (~24m20s)

As I mentioned earlier, that’s why I only deal in percentages, not absolute numbers. When they get below 50%/25%, let ’em know. It helps them to know how close the enemy is, without giving specific measurements. This way, if you want to have a specific character get the final blow, you can. If 25% health is 10, so what if the final blow is 7 or 13? Close enough.

Fate and its ilk (~26m)

Another important thing for Fate and knowing the target number (“opposition”, in Fate parlance) is that with most rolls you can succeed at a cost on a “failure.” This will not only help you decide if you want to spend fate points or free invokes, but also what a success will cost you—and if you want pay that price.

Hero point usage (~28m50s): Exactly what I was talking about above about success at a cost. If you don’t know what the difficulty is, you don’t know what success will cost you. Also, spending points in such a fashion is covered pretty well in Fate Core with [the ellipses trick](http://fate-srd.com/fate-core/invoking-compelling-aspects#the-ellipsis-trick)

Devon (~30m45s): Mysteries aren’t about the power of the NPCs, to me. The mystery is about the story, and most players will, in my experience, subconsciously try to decipher the enemies stats anyway. The drama in the mystery is what is happening outside of combat encounters.

Devon (~34min): I’m not a big fan of giving everything to the players. Only when they interact with the attribute/stat/skill/whatever. And I don’t see the need to give out the entire stat block. Don’t let the players focus on the stat block card, instead let them focus on the game, the narration going on.

Please check out Christopher’s blog here

and him as a co-host on the Shark Bone podcast here

Comments and Feedback are always welcome.
Thanks!!
~Michael
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