Friendship is Dragons
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Page 1345 - Occam's Raised Her
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Yes. All the time. Ususally it just involves being peaceful, which is annoying because I want some goddamn action.
Also, the simple solution is the boring solution.
Also, the simple solution is the boring solution.
Not so much 'realize' as I force their hands whenever it comes to social situations.
In combat we're solid, but if it calls for even the slightest amount of social skill they will sit and spin their wheels for an hour trying to come up with the perfect plan and arguing about tiny details. I play a barbarian who will patiently listen for ten minutes then start executing whatever plan sounds best to me. I've got a -2 to my CHA and no ranks in any skill so they have to keep up fast. Overall, it works suprisingly well to keep momentum without ruining the scene (as it fits his character and I never do something stupid, just let my barbarian take his best crack at whatever angle seems like the best one and the CHA characters 'expound' on his line of thinking to the NPC). I know the GM prefers it, but he'd like it even if we descended into chaos and combat as along as the story keeps moving.
In combat we're solid, but if it calls for even the slightest amount of social skill they will sit and spin their wheels for an hour trying to come up with the perfect plan and arguing about tiny details. I play a barbarian who will patiently listen for ten minutes then start executing whatever plan sounds best to me. I've got a -2 to my CHA and no ranks in any skill so they have to keep up fast. Overall, it works suprisingly well to keep momentum without ruining the scene (as it fits his character and I never do something stupid, just let my barbarian take his best crack at whatever angle seems like the best one and the CHA characters 'expound' on his line of thinking to the NPC). I know the GM prefers it, but he'd like it even if we descended into chaos and combat as along as the story keeps moving.
The "Motivator" is an important part of any party composition. Whether it be a too-curious wizard, a too-larcenous rogue, or a straightforward barbarian- someone needs to poke the button, or open the door, or talk to the mysterious cloaked figure in the corner.
You just don't want the Motivator to go against the will of the group. Like, my group plays by text chat so things already tend to move more slowly than they would in an in-person session. So, as much as I like to come up with plans, experience has taught me events almost never go according to them, so when it seems like the group is stalling and overfocusing on minutiae or falling into a circular argument, I'll usually call for a group vote to settle on one of the courses of action that's been discussed so we can move forward.
This is why every party should have a barbarian. The simplest answer is straight ahead, through the wall is necessary.
commenting late because the story I have is irrelevant to the question asked on the current one and I would feel weird putting it there.
I was sitting in on my neighbor's Curse of Strahd game and I took over one of the NPCs. The party had 2 fighters, a rogue, a monk, a cleric, and a bard, I was some sort of fighter/wizard i think? it didn't really say the class in the DM book. Anyways, we went into this room and there was an empty chest inside. One of the fighters and the rogue checked the chest for stuff (it was empty) and for a false bottom (they couldn't find one). This took forever. When they were done, I picked up the chest, intending to make wooden stakes from it (BBEG is a vampire and you can never have too many stabby things), and the DM said "You notice a false bottom in the chest". The fighter and rogue spent like 10 minutes searching for a false bottom and then I didn't even need to roll to notice it.
I was sitting in on my neighbor's Curse of Strahd game and I took over one of the NPCs. The party had 2 fighters, a rogue, a monk, a cleric, and a bard, I was some sort of fighter/wizard i think? it didn't really say the class in the DM book. Anyways, we went into this room and there was an empty chest inside. One of the fighters and the rogue checked the chest for stuff (it was empty) and for a false bottom (they couldn't find one). This took forever. When they were done, I picked up the chest, intending to make wooden stakes from it (BBEG is a vampire and you can never have too many stabby things), and the DM said "You notice a false bottom in the chest". The fighter and rogue spent like 10 minutes searching for a false bottom and then I didn't even need to roll to notice it.
Guest Author's Note: "The amount of times I've felt like Pinkie during an RPG is...a number higher than I'd like to count. I, personally, am very prone to elaborate plans and schemes as a player. I try to set up factions against one another, try to layer disguise after disguise, and generally do everything in my power to avoid a simple solution. It's a running gag in my Shadowrun game that my character will try to hire any NPC that isn't an immediate threat.
But a lot of the times, a simple solution is way better than a complex one.
It's just funny how often the simple ones seem to get you by surprise.
Story Time: Any time your group realized a simple solution to their problems after way too long?"