18 hours ago, GreysonWulffe said:I don't quite agree with this bit, but that's just from my perspective.
So long as there's some meaning or sense behind it, I'm perfectly fine with the game or the GM imposing conditions on my character. The entire "hit-point system" of Masks: A New Generation is based on imposed/forced emotions, and it works.
I can even work with the game just imposing the emotion and then cuing me to justify it. Like, "As you step through the doorway, your throat suddenly feels dry and you have a sinking sensation in your belly as fear overtakes you. Why do you feel this way? Envision this for us."
You are correct. Obviously, I can't tell you what your opinion is, and it's really good to know that you're able to roll with imposed emotions so easily. I've found, especially with narrative-focused games, that if I impose an emotion or sensation on players, even through pure mechanics, they can react violently on account of 'that's not what my character would do!'. If you're invested in a character, having them follow a command to jump into a pit imposed by a dark sorcerer can be quite galling, especially if it's at odds with how you view them.
Despite that, I'm going to mince words here and indicate why design choices are so important. You specifically cite Masks as your example. By joining a game of Masks, you as a player buy into the game's use of forced emotions as a form of damage. That's a decision you made, so when it comes back later, you are presumably invested in playing it out. That is what DMs and designers need to do. They need to understand the game, not just mechanically, but narratively, better than anyone else, so that they know how to make players buy into specific scenarios and understand or accept when it's just not gonna happen.
Reward players who pay attention in an exploration game. Give them the ability to solve puzzles with a moment of brilliance. Maybe call them Brilliancy Points, where their investigation of the local landscape and culture gives them a Eureka moment they can weaponize to realize something about the scenario that wasn't explained or obvious.
For example, a classic pulp cliche is a dashing hero coming across a hidden world and coming across the local conveniently unmarried princess of this strange people. But perhaps when the hero is hailed as the suitor for this strange princess, enough listening to the chanting reveals that the role of the king is to die in ritual self-sacrifice in order to maintain the idyllic world in which these secretive people live.