D&D General Railroads, Illusionism, and Participationism

[Crimson Longinus]

Therefore, people who are complaining about “player authored edits” are not actually complaining about the edits but who makes them.

You don't say! The complaint about "player authored edits" is about player making edits, and not about edits in general! Who could have guessed!

 

[Aldarc]

You don't say! The complaint about "player authored edits" is about player making edits, and not about edits in general! Who could have guessed!

There would be no need to tone police if you could actually treat others who are engaging in good faith respectfully.

 

[Lanefan]

My character is a cog in an adventure path machine that doesn't particularly care how I as a player have painted my cog. Put a penny, a dime, a nickle, or a quarter in the device below. Why stop there? Use Euro coins, Japanese yen coins, or fake currencies like Canadian Loonies and Toonies.

I think I'm supposed to be offended here...

 

[Aldarc]

I think I'm supposed to be offended here...

Good. I wrote it with you in mind.

 

[Ovinomancer]

This is what started this whole tangent. You and Pemerton disagreed with this. It was always about who authors what.

I can only guess that you've quoted someone else here and not just me? If so, I have no idea what my response to you could possibly have to do with a post I can't even see. I very well may disagree with whatever that post says, but I haven't done so intentionally nor have I responded to it. How could I? It's invisible to me.

 

[Lanefan]

Why can't we all just speak for ourselves without appealing to the undefined masses?

Because all too often the immediate and dismissive response from those who disagree boils down to "That's just your opinion, man" or "Anecdotes aren't data" or something similar, even when their own words come from the same fountain.

Hardly productive.

There's also those who, rather than appealing to the undefined masses, instead often appeal to and name-drop well-known game designers, bloggers, and the like as if those people's words are worth any more than any of ours here and as if the many hours of thought those people have put into what they do with their games are worth any more than the many hours of thought a lot of us have put into what we do with our games. Equally as unproductive IMO.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I can only guess that you've quoted someone else here and not just me? If so, I have no idea what my response to you could possibly have to do with a post I can't even see. I very well may disagree with whatever that post says, but I haven't done so intentionally nor have I responded to it. How could I? It's invisible to me.

It seems you have some people blocked of vice versa. That certainly might explain some weirdness in the conversation. The line was "The ability to author fiction outside my immediate character (possibly not present in all story now games, but certainly in many)." (As a think the poster didn't like about Story Now games.) Pemerton disagreed with this being a thing that happens, I disagreed with their disagreement and I think you then disagreed with me. And some other people disagreed with various people too. For several pages.

 

[Lanefan]

Also, the advice also doesn’t say to ignore or retcon prior established geography.

Agreed.

My concern is when someone fills in a blank on the map* with something that really should have been obvious to all since day one.

* - I do my maps this way as well - leave lots of blank space for later use - but when filling in those blanks later I try hard not to let anything in there that should have been more obvious sooner.

 

[Lanefan]

If we accept that there is actually nothing in the fiction until it enters play, then there is no before and after in the causal sense. Causality is as much a fiction as the details of the game world.

And that (bolded) is a key thing: some of us simply don't and won't accept this as a premise for how to run/play an RPG and-or build a setting, because it puts the setting on a foundation of sand when what's desired instead is a sense of permanence, consistency and continuity.

 

[Ovinomancer]

It seems you have some people blocked of vice versa. That certainly might explain some weirdness in the conversation. The line was "The ability to author fiction outside my immediate character (possibly not present in all story now games, but certainly in many)." (As a think the poster didn't like about Story Now games.) Pemerton disagreed with this being a thing that happens, I disagreed with their disagreement and I think you then disagreed with me. And some other people disagreed with various people too. For several pages.

It's not a thing that happens. The move Spout Lore is entirely about what the character recalls about a thing, and obliges the GM on a hit to provide a useful recollection about that thing. If you feel this is authoring fiction outside the character, then you should also have a problem if a 5e character asks the same question and the GM willingly decides to agree and makes up the same fiction. Or with a character making an attack roll and causing an orc to be struck and killed by a sword. So, really, it's not about the fiction created or some imagined barrier, but rather if the GM is being obliged to create fiction in ways you're not already used to.