The Food Analogy

[Dannyalcatraz]

The GM can design an adventure no one plays.

This is the fate of MANY of my campaigns.

 

[Thondor]

The best players are the ones who bring dessert or drinks to the game the GM has prepared. Mind you the ones who bring the tall tales, entertaining anecdotes or music are great too

It's a fun analogy.
I recently wrote a post about sports being my preferred analogy: Sports as the Metaphor for RPGs

 

[Reynard]

Another element of the analogy:

Genres are flavor profiles, and like flavor profiles with food, we all have preferences and favorites. But even if we go back to the flavor profile over and over, there is still a lot of variation. A breakfast burrito is different than a street taco which is different than homemade empanadas. But they are all dungeon crawling (or whatever).

And, of course, fusion is a thing. You can throw fired jalapenos and asiago on a burger just as easily as you can insert a short dungeon crawl into a otherwise epic fantasy campaign.

 

[Blue]

And again, if all the chef does is show you his kitchen full of ingredients and cold pots, and tell you, “I am Ozymandias, Chef of Chefs! Look upon my kitchen, ye hungry, and despair!”, he has failed at the last necessary step of being the chef: actually preparing a meal for people to eat.

Likewise, most GMs showing up on game night without an actual adventure ready to go are going to face blowback from their players. Some among us may be able to improvise an entire campaign, but the bulk of us will struggle beyond winging an encounter or combat.

So many Play-to-find-out RPGs, such as all of the various PbtA and FitD ones, show that this is incorrect.

 

[Reynard]

So many Play-to-find-out RPGs, such as all of the various PbtA and FitD ones, show that this is incorrect.

Play to find out is interesting in the context of the food analogy. Korean barbeque maybe? Something where folks do a lot of their own flavoring and dressing and that often convinces other folks to riff on whatever thing you just did.

 

[Blue]

The chef can make food no one eats. The GM can design an adventure no one plays. It becomes a meal or a game once everyone sits down at the table.

Correct, but somehow you're not making the connection how that shows the analogy is incorrect.

In an RPG, an unplayed adventure is not the end product, like a meal is for a chef. A session is.

Preparing an adventure is akin to a prep cook chopping, measuring, and preparing all of the ingredients ahead of time. It can be a huge boon to making a great meal, but it's not the final creation.

And, like Play to find Out RPGs show, having an adventure or a prep cook is not always necessary to make a great meal/session.

 

[Reynard]

Correct, but somehow you're not making the connection how that shows the analogy is incorrect.

In an RPG, an unplayed adventure is not the end product, like a meal is for a chef. A session is.

Preparing an adventure is akin to a prep cook chopping, measuring, and preparing all of the ingredients ahead of time. It can be a huge boon to making a great meal, but it's not the final creation.

And, like Play to find Out RPGs show, having an adventure or a prep cook is not always necessary to make a great meal/session.

I am honestly not especially interested in defending the basis of the analogy with you. If you don't like it, that's fine.

 

[Blue]

As noted multiple times by others, no analogy is perfect, and will break down at some point. So debating it’s “correctness” is a poor thing to debate.

Sorry, I was calling out the logical fallacy of circular reasoning.

If I assert: I am a god. And you know this is true because as a god I can not make mistakes.

That's something relying on itself to prove it is true. That is what I called out with the point of order. You had asserted proofs within the context that the analogy was correct that were only true if you assumed the analogy was correct.

 

[Blue]

I am honestly not especially interested in defending the basis of the analogy with you. If you don't like it, that's fine.

Fair enough. You did ask for light debate and I'll respect if you feel this is pushing past that.

 

[Blue]

To be constructive in a way I think fits your ask, what about if the analogy was instead of a meal but a Cold Stone Creamery-like premium build-your-ice-cream shop.

The Barista prepares all of the options available/the GM puts together an adventure. And the Customers over the summer determine what they are going to get each time, with what topping and mix-in, cones, waffles or cups which then needs to be skillfully mixed and topped by the Barista/the Players decide what to do and the GM weaves a session from their actions over the course of an adventure.

I mention "over the summer" because a flaw in the ice-cream analogy for a single visit would be all of ice creams not tasted. While we all know that just because something is prepped doesn't mean it'll be used, but hopefully more of it is used then not.

Actually, now that I said that, just adding a time element to the original analogy might make it better. A whole adventure isn't a single encounter/meal, it's multiple entrees, appetizers, desserts and sides. So if each scene/challenge in an RPG is equivalent to one of those, and the chef over time is adjusting menus based on what their family likes, that I think would strengthen it.