I was gonna try and back off the post because I've been all over it, but I did have one other point to address.
"That being said, not every question we're given is going to produce the most interesting answers. There is a certain level of player creativity that needs to be expressed to get to things, and this is a factor that is always going to be more impactful than character rank or their established CR in determining if the answer given will lead them somewhere interesting."
I can respect this approach. I GM tabletop games, I've employed it myself.
The trouble with this idea is that without adequate hints and a willingness to work with players on finding those solutions, this stops being a fun puzzle and starts being a purely arbitrary guessing game.
This is probably the only one of these points that has been a point of frustration with me personally, and it has come up multiple times for me. I've tried to investigate events and ask questions, and rather than being rewarded for my efforts, I just hit a giant NO and, without further guidance, am forced to guess randomly at what I was "supposed" to be paying attention to or else give up entirely.
no subject
I can respect this approach. I GM tabletop games, I've employed it myself.
The trouble with this idea is that without adequate hints and a willingness to work with players on finding those solutions, this stops being a fun puzzle and starts being a purely arbitrary guessing game.
This is probably the only one of these points that has been a point of frustration with me personally, and it has come up multiple times for me. I've tried to investigate events and ask questions, and rather than being rewarded for my efforts, I just hit a giant NO and, without further guidance, am forced to guess randomly at what I was "supposed" to be paying attention to or else give up entirely.