Recent content by Campbell

Every edition of Exalted Every edition of Legend of the Five Rings Every edition of Shadowrun Every edition of Earthdawn Every edition of Mutants and Masterminds Dark Heresy Second Edition Second Edition of Apocalypse World Second edition of Monsterhearts The New World of Darkness Chronicles of...

I guess what is the point of defining what "railroading" is? Is it about setting a standard for when players setting boundaries is socially acceptable? If it's not railroading are players allowed to object anyway? What are the stakes here? Is there genuine concern over if players have enough...

I mean if a player isn't giving me enough information I'm going to ask for more clarification. Just "what does that look like?" and if that is too much the other demands of play are going to be way too much. But I have never really encountered someone who isn't capable of that much. I think...

I embrace the power of "and" here. Of course, it's subjective which is why I find addressing which tools we opt to use solely through the lens of necessity silly.

There is a ton of GM judgement involved. If there wasn't we would not need principles about how to apply that judgement. What it is true is that is that it is all there out in the open. Of course, there are levels of GM skill and group chemistry that have a massive impact on play. No one is...

It's important, contextually, that "play to find out what happens" is in the MC Playbook. That being said I think Monsterhearts' "Keep the story feral" and Blades in the Dark's "be a curious explorer of the fiction" do a better job of laying out the mentality Vincent Baker is expecting...

There is no central activity of playing a roleplaying game. We don't play "a roleplaying game" we play specific games with specific structures that fit within the broad category. That some choose to bring encultured system into the matter is on them. There is nothing about roleplaying is a...

Pacing is also incredibly subjective and really dependent on the audience / play group. I am very happy with the pacing of the games my home group plays, but do to how zoomed in the social conflicts tend to be I think it would be a very slow pace for some. But likewise some of the convention...

I think it is playing a roleplaying game because there are still rules, a structure of play and defined roles. The rules and mechanics are just not written down. GM decides what happens is as much a mechanic as an Apocalypse World basic move. Whether or not it is written down does not change...

Principles (at least in Apocalypse World) not advice or suggestions. They are instructions. The game says, "Always say what your principles demand." Now, no one can force you to follow these instructions, but no one can force you to use a game mechanic besides through social agreement and...

Lots of games get called narrative games for a variety of reasons. The only real unifying principle is that they structured differently than trad games. Night's Black Agents, John Carter of Mars and Apocalypse World have fig all to do with one another. They are prepped differently, they are...

Yeah. The lists are only a starting point, and milestones often get adjusted as part of the ongoing conversation of play. New goals are constantly getting set.

So, the process my group uses is about avoiding some of the prat falls we have experienced in more open ended play. Stuff like making sure the characters are compatible with each other and that there are reasons for the characters to work together, making sure the characters have things they are...

One of the things we at our table to coordinate more player driven play is establishing one personal milestone/goal per player character and another group milestone/goal with lists of options as examples so if a player is having trouble coming up with a specific motivation or goal, they can pick...

At some tables. At others we work together to establish these things. Like if you refuse to coordinate your efforts to orchestrate in a way that works for everyone than don't be surprised by some of the breakdowns you are seeing. As an addendum there are no universal rules for these things...