Recent content by Campbell

Why are we evaluating the Burning Wheel Steel mechanic in terms of the sorts of fiction D&D is utilized to play. No one has suggested importing it. Burning Wheel is not a game designed for the sort of action-adventure heroics being discussed. It's rather brutal combat and healing mechanics would...

Absolutely. I still think it's important that when we talk about how play functions, we can keep in mind the impact of experience and try to be mindful about how we are depicting things.

Right. That is the core gameplay loop for D&D and most conventional RPGs. It's not for a number of games. Including fairly conventional ones like Vampire - The Masquerade, Most 2d20 games, Legend of the Five Rings (Fifth Edition) or Pendragon. It certainly is not the gameplay loop for Apocalypse...

I don't think anyone is wrong about what they would prefer, but I do think people who lack experience say some pretty phenomenal wild things about modes of play that do not have much experience with. I think often what we see is that a lot of folks experience games like Apocalypse World for the...

For the record I have never stated that characters should have more information (in more conventional play) than makes logical sense given the setting and scenario at play. What I have suggested is that in the design of the setting and scenario the GM (or game designer) makes creative decisions...

I don't think there's an ought here. I don't think there's a way role-playing games ought to be or a particular form the GM role should take. I think there are repercussions and trade-offs for design decisions and we should talk about them, but there's no room for should except in the context of...

There are sometimes limitations put on autonomy or carrots or sticks for particular actions, but these come as a consequence for decisions that are made with clear eyes. What we get in exchange is the ability to impact the setting in reliable ways. That autonomy is wagered for irrevocable change...

Disagree with as in disagree with its existence? Or as in realize it's not for you but worthy of respect as part of the overall hobby we all share?

Why is it disturbing if we are all opting into it and trust each other? A game does not have to be a fit for every person or every group. It's obvious that you want something different than people who enjoy Burning Wheel, but that does not make the sort of play model where we are actively...

With a Duel of Wits, you are opting in. You are staking that control over your character's autonomy to have control over the setting. It's a clear-eyed decision you are making. Want to convince the border guard to let you pass then you leave yourself vulnerable to being convinced to leave the...

The Principa Apocrypha and the designs that align with it like Old School Essentials, The Nightmares Underneath, Knave and Dolmenwood represent the strain of OSR thought that starts with Moldvay's B/X edit (with its explicit procedures and approaching the game as a game) as a jumping off point...

I'd take another look at the rules for how the game is run. That's where the magic is. The mechanics reinforce the fight for what you believe in ethos, but the process where the GM frames scenes in reference to belief statements written on the player's character sheets and we test whether those...

For what it's worth I just personally degree that the output of GM has a mental model and decides what happens based on what they feel is most plausible results in a world that feels more real at the end of the day. I think the plausibility on top of plausibility often results in a world that...

At least from my perspective losing a player to the group, even for just this game, is a substantive cost. It means losing a skilled, collaborative contributor who I know meshes with the larger group. It means no one is breathing life to a character we all know and appreciate. It often means...

The GM is describing and bringing the ship captain to life, but they are not doing so as an adjudicator. They are framing - authoring details about the world that are further designed to test and provoke the beliefs of the player characters. It's a creative rather than evaluative act. It's...