I've been reading through this entire thread--which looks a bit like a spinoff of one I started where I mentioned not being able to use gear tokens for certain tasks, but what I find interesting in this one is some of the resistance, or perceived resistance to letting people use their gear tokens in a creative way lest it should buck the pre-destined path that Jeff dreamed up or wrote.
The whole point of being a player in a fantasy RPG is to use one's resources to survive and profit.
Why bother printing gear tokens if a player can't use them? If a player wanted to try to lash a rope to an overhanging tree and swing across the mystical waters, why not give them a dex roll or something? That's what a normal DM would do in a D&D tabletop game. I realize that this isn't a direct parallel with a tabletop D&D game but when you constantly tell a participant, "No, you can't use the mirror. No, you can't use the rope. No, you can't use the what's-it-called" all you're doing is stifling creative players which leads to resentment about the overall experience.
How long would you sit at a tabletop RPG with a DM who continually told you no, you can't use your resources? Not very long, I'd venture. There's almost always a chance to accomplish a feat or task. It just requires a roll vs. an attribute or skill. Fail or fly, you still get the chance.
I get that the idea of TD is that it's an immersion-based experience--that we're encouraged to use the props in the rooms and I get that some tokens are usable in certain rooms, but there seems to be a real lack of consistency in when and where that can happen and where the line is drawn with respect to the "role playing" part of the experience.
Somebody mentioned that if players were allowed to use tokens to solve puzzles/tasks certain gamer types would "overrun" the sessions. That's already happening now with people shooting messages to each other on their smart phones. We heard no less than a half-dozen groups of people discussing what tokens to take specifically for each run based on what their friends told them they were going to face in each room on each scenario.
Somebody else mentioned giving "less experience points" for using gear tokens to solve puzzles/tasks. Why? Why would you penalize a participant for using what was given to them or what they earned from a treasure pull? That doesn't seem right. Again it's akin to stifling another level of creativity.
I think that participants should be encouraged to use their gear tokens to make it through the runs, otherwise just stop pressing them altogether.
