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View Full Version : Change Point System or How Not to Do It



unseenmage
2013-06-03, 08:21 AM
A friend of mine is having creative difficulty DMing someone elses Realms game and I just sent him this advice and thought I'd share.

I'm not sure yet if it's satire or a really awesome idea. What's the playground's take on it?

You guys could institute a Change Point system. GM and players each get x number of vetoes. Vetoes refresh when a campaign ends.
Vetoes are unquestioned but can be used against each other.

Player thinks DM idea is "stupid" uses veto. GM knows idea has to stay for story reasons.
Compromise always trumps veto but does not restore a used veto.

If anyone runs out of vetoes entirely the campaign ends, rocks fall everyone dies, roll new characters, change gameworlds.

Water_Bear
2013-06-03, 10:47 AM
Narrative control mechanics are very divisive. Some people won't play RPGs without them. Others like me find them extremely distasteful and oppose them on principle. Get a sense of what the players attitudes are, and make sure that everyone agrees if they're to be included.

Obviously the "Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies" one is a joke, but just for the record; terrible idea. If nothing else, it gives every player a doomsday switch on the whole campaign.

LibraryOgre
2013-06-03, 01:07 PM
I don't mind minor narrative control systems, but far-reaching ones are, IME, disruptive. If the players veto the DMs planned campaign plot? Evening over, DM has to go back to the drawing board. If the player wants to make a reroll of a skill or attack? That's doable.

Mewtarthio
2013-06-03, 01:22 PM
Here's the thing: Most narrative control systems are used to add to the story. A player thinks an idea would be cool and expends a "Story Point" to add it to the narrative. Or the player wants to direct the story in a particular way (even if that direction is just "Any direction in which my character isn't dead") and expends an SP to enhance a crucial roll to that end.

The system in the OP is purely subtractive in nature. A player thinks an idea is "stupid" and expends a CP to remove it. Another player thinks the first player's veto was stupid and expends a CP to counter it. It's a much more hostile environment.