From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Clark
Peterson
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2001 1:23 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [ogf-d20-l] Detecting Traps?
<< PPS--I should also mention that several of the players
had been getting upset with Gene dragging his feet
about doing his job so, though they were stunned, they
didnt exactly get mad at Joe. They just insisted that
he no longer stay in the rear of the marching order. >>
I had one Champions player who really got off on detail. He spent two
hours -- real time! -- searching a room, rather than just make his Detective
roll. And my own "sensory" style got the better of me: I am the PCs' senses,
and will improvise details as they examine stuff. Well, he figured
EVERYTHING he saw had to be significant, or I wouldn't have said it. So he
looked under the table, and there was gum there. He looked in the closet,
and there were old receipts in the pockets of the clothes. He happened to be
searching the apartment of probably the best fleshed-out NPC in my campaign,
so I could imagine what this character might leave in any part of the
apartment. But because I never said, "You don't find anything," and I never
said, "Make a roll" (and never made any of my own, since I knew the
answers), he just kept looking.
I'm lucky the other players didn't throw ME through whirling blades! I
finally had to ask him out of game what he was up to. When I realized he
thought that GMs only tell you IMPORTANT details, I said, "There are no
important details. You find nothing. Move on."
Martin L. Shoemaker
Emerald Software, Inc. -- Custom Software and UML Training
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.EmeraldSoftwareInc.com
www.UMLBootCamp.com
