MGuy wrote:Playing "Guess what the GM is thinking" has never been a satisfying mechanical feature for a game (and I am saying this as a person who GMs his games 80% of the time).
I suspect some of y'all are really bad at Magic Tea Party. It's not a guessing game, it's a "freely interact with the things the DM talks about" game. Preferably without too many red herrings. Repeating back what you just heard to show you're paying attention. So you win by putting down the iPod.
Yes, DMs and monster designers can be massive dicks with MTP, but they can be dicks with DCs and d20 checks just the same. I'm just winding up a "polite discussion" elsewhere with people who think if your character maxes out lockpicking in 3e the DM should obviously start using DC 40 locks at first level just to fuck with you, and invent DC 80 locks at high level to keep fucking with your shitty, unoptimised, locksmith character concept. Like that's their job or something.
That some people are clearly giant whale dongs does not invalidate MTP when it's used without all the dickery. With loud, obvious, repeated clues, alternate paths, and the big rewards sitting out in the open with a reward sign on them and an NPC telling you that's the reward. Maybe a backup reward if you miss it.
Starmaker wrote:MTP Search leads to shit like standard search protocols.
Not IMC. Sensible default behaviour can be mechanised out of the way. Then you interact with the things I mention beyond that, because many of those things do something interesting.
PC, SJW, anti-fascist, not being a dick, or working on it, he/him.