Do What You Want, Let the Consequence Follow

One thing I love about D&D is that it's a game in which you can do almost anything. Most computer and video games have fairly strict limitations concerning what the characters can do. For example, in Breath of the Wild, you can't try to negotiate with hostile forces; you can only fight or retreat. You can't give NPCs items unless a quest specifically calls for that. You can't even pet the dogs. But in D&D, you can do, or at least attempt to do, anything that your character is physically capable of.

Yet, the decision to act is only part of the story. The rest of the story is the results of the characters' actions. You want to drop a lit torch onto a pile of hay? Go ahead, but the pile of hay, which you are standing right next to, will light on fire, and that fire may spread. Naturally, not all of the consequences are negative. Those who do good and do well usually get good results. But whether they do good things, bad things, or whatever random things they decide to try to do, there will be consequences based on their decisions and the luck of the dice.

Similarly, we are in a situation in which we can do, or at least attempt to do, anything of which we are physically capable. I can choose to finish this blog post, or I can choose to delete it. I can drink my water, or pour it down the drain or onto my keyboard, or throw it out the window. I can do chores, or I can leave them undone. Life is full of choices. In fact, our options are so numerous that they might as well be innumerable. We can do anything we want. But for everything we do or choose not to do, there are consequences. Finishing this blog post will have the consequence of meeting my obligation to blog today. Drinking my water will hydrate me and make me have to pee later. Leaving those chores undone will mean that someone else will have to do them or they simply won't get done. We can do whatever we want, and the natural consequences will follow our decisions.

In fact, it could be argued that commandments are little more than warnings and advice for how to receive desirable consequences and/or avoid undesirable ones. They aren't restrictions, exactly. We can still do whatever we want, but the consequences are going to follow. Some consequences are good, and others are bad, and whether a consequence is good or bad may depend on a person's perspective and preferences, but however you slice it, it's the same principle of choices and consequences. Do whatever you choose to do, and watch the natural consequences follow.