To add something to my reply just upthread to @prabe, which also to some extent builds on @chaochou's remark that "a dungeon can be created and populated without need to reference force":
My own opinion, which is based on my own experience as GM and player, and on reading modules and reports of play over the years, is that framing is one of the most important GM skills.
Framing needs to invite the players to engage the situation. Otherwise the game becomes boring and pointless. I've experienced this as a player, sometimes been guilty of it as a GM, and heard many reports of it.
But framing which guides or manipulates towards a fore-ordained goal - like the dragon armies, and most modules I know from the 2nd ed and 3E D&D eras - tends towards suckitude, because it makes play pointless in a different way: the players have nothing to contribute. (Even their dice rolls don't matter, because the GM has to ignore or fudge or negate those outcomes to make sure the fore-ordained goal is achieved.)
Between those two pitfalls is a lot of room for manoeuvre, but I think it requires some thought and some deftness to do it well. I've been GMed by people who are pretty experienced RPGers but haven't been able to do it.
My own opinion, which is based on my own experience as GM and player, and on reading modules and reports of play over the years, is that framing is one of the most important GM skills.
Framing needs to invite the players to engage the situation. Otherwise the game becomes boring and pointless. I've experienced this as a player, sometimes been guilty of it as a GM, and heard many reports of it.
But framing which guides or manipulates towards a fore-ordained goal - like the dragon armies, and most modules I know from the 2nd ed and 3E D&D eras - tends towards suckitude, because it makes play pointless in a different way: the players have nothing to contribute. (Even their dice rolls don't matter, because the GM has to ignore or fudge or negate those outcomes to make sure the fore-ordained goal is achieved.)
Between those two pitfalls is a lot of room for manoeuvre, but I think it requires some thought and some deftness to do it well. I've been GMed by people who are pretty experienced RPGers but haven't been able to do it.