You make our futures seem sad and exhausting. The wisdom of ages is apparently disenchanted assertiveness.

What the Hell are we talking about again?

Quote from: Nexus;1013812What the Hell are we talking about again?

Memory is the first thing to go.  I forget the second.  Or did I get that backwards?  Either way, you are on your way.

Quote from: Opaopajr;1013810You make our futures seem sad and exhausting. The wisdom of ages is apparently disenchanted assertiveness.

Maybe.  But it's a lot more efficient than the younger cynical thrashing around.  Not necessarily any more effective, but certainly more efficient.  So we have that going for us.  People become more themselves, for better AND worse.

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1012456I've noticed as I GM more and more ... and empower players who use their character's skillset to great effect or in unorthodox ways.

I would be more impressed if you gave us examples of this end of it.  "I'm a bad-ass, killer, gritty-world with consequences, GM" is not actually an uncommon claim on the internet or in real life.

Quote from: Opaopajr;1013810You make our futures seem sad and exhausting. The wisdom of ages is apparently disenchanted assertiveness.

Get off their lawns!

Quote from: Opaopajr;1013810You make our futures seem sad and exhausting. The wisdom of ages is apparently disenchanted assertiveness.

I would just call it forthrightness and purposefulness. We've seen enough people tilt at windmills to limit our idealisms for things that matter. We are (for the most part, in my opinion, etc.) disenchanted with posturing, irony, image, those kind of things. As for exhausted, it's really not that much because of being old, but because of the things you have going on in your life. I'm not cycling 60 miles a day like I was in my 20s, but general daily activity doesn't tire me out that much more now--I just have a wife, dog, job worthy skills, both house to upkeep and househunting at the moment, prepping for the holidays (which are no longer buy gifts and show up at Mom and Dad's house, I'm running the thing), and so on and so forth.  

Quote from: Nexus;1013812What the Hell are we talking about again?

In theory, the OP asked us if the rest of us (as GMs) experienced the situation where we exacted retribution upon our player's characters because they made bad decisions. But for the most part we've been trying to suss out exactly what his example situations/bad decisions actually were, since he wasn't clear to start with and has been strangely resistant to being helpful in that regard. I still don't feel I got an explanation on what the 'sketchy' guy was trying to do which ended up with him getting drugged and in need of rescue, but my interest is waning.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;1013871In theory, the OP asked us if the rest of us (as GMs) experienced the situation where we exacted retribution upon our player's characters because they made bad decisions. But for the most part we've been trying to suss out exactly what his example situations/bad decisions actually were, since he wasn't clear to start with and has been strangely resistant to being helpful in that regard. I still don't feel I got an explanation on what the 'sketchy' guy was trying to do which ended up with him getting drugged and in need of rescue, but my interest is waning.

I'll mostly agree with that, however given the lack of clear player bad behaviour, and the common denominator being the GM, I am still inclined to the view that either the GM was being a dick, or there was mildly(?) jerkish player behaviour combined with GM being a dick. GM claims other players support his approach; but OTOH has not been able/willing to explain how the players were actually being jerks at all.

Quote from: S'mon;1013958I'll mostly agree with that, however given the lack of clear player bad behaviour, and the common denominator being the GM, I am still inclined to the view that either the GM was being a dick, or there was mildly(?) jerkish player behaviour combined with GM being a dick. GM claims other players support his approach; but OTOH has not been able/willing to explain how the players were actually being jerks at all.

You moght be right.  

I still like my theroy that the GM has been gaming with characters from The Office, american or British version probably doesn't matter.  

If you had to play with those people evey week for years your 'natural consequences' might start to come swift and savage.

Consequences for in-character PC actions should be emulative to what should actually reasonably result from their actions. Not stuff that's intended to be punitive.