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I get the impression here that you really have no experience with games that are run on tight situations. There is no plot. There is no predetermined order, no predetermined events, and in most games that are run in this way, every encounter is created exactly in accordance with what you cite as...

Call your doctor if your game lasts more than four hours. Some side effects incude pasty white skin, skinny arms, excess facial hair, and pot bellies. Combining Essentials with cheetos and mountain dew can increase your risk of both obesity and insomnia. Ask your doctor if Essentials is right...

Yeah, this is not what I expected to read after seeing the title. I was preparing myself to write about my experiences so far in medical school with role-playing being a pretty core activity in the curriculum. I have no idea about any literature on the benefits of non-curriculum directed...

Not sure if it really fits or not, but your group may be playing a game that is more complicated that you actually would like. If the players are not interested in learning the rules, then this is probably the case. If the players are just inexperienced, then this might not be the case. In...

This is no mean feat. I have very high standards. ;)

This is almost sig worthy.

I am actually not forcing anything. And my players have expresed that my games are better since I have begun using these techniques. I want to address this actually. Combat is not at all the only thing that happens in my games. Character directed scenes are. So I make each scene pertinent to...

You are right to a degree. These connections are not necessary. RPGs can work without them. And have . For years. But they are useful. And take very little time. They actually help to combat the complaint that the original OP outlined. Just an optional technique for most games, but one with...

The fact that some characters have no connections does not counter the fact that most do. I am not opposed to ever having a character with no roots. I just find them contirved, harder to GM for, and not as interesting. As you said above, D'Artagnan actually has at least one connection. I think...

You are right. My statement was too simplistic. Stopping at hurting the characters is not always good. There is usually a next step which is triumph and sometimes recovery of what was lost. But the point really should have been that rootless characters have no investment in the world...

I understand both of these points quite well. But if that is how we are defining discovery and exploration, then having some more narrative authority is in no way contrary to discovery and control, and I get it all the time as both player and GM of indie games which would be considered...

My ignorance of romance novels actually knows no bounds, so I will have to defer to your expertise. ;)

Now your speaking my language. ;)

Indie games have no problem with this. I have not played any, but I am pretty sure that there are romance RPGs in the indie scene. I think that Breaking the Ice is a romance RPG. EDIT:

No because the campaign starts at the same time for all of them. Are there prequels that I do not know about?

I agree 100%. I am not sure how the GM has any sense of exploration at the table in a sandbox though. Discovery and exploration are definitely destroyed by the ability to just make things up. So in essence, I see a need to heavily divide GM-player authority in an effort to allow the player a...

Me as well. I just want to make sure that the story is interesting. Hitting on barmaids is not iteresting. You are overlooking the other PCs in the story. The title characters. They have pre-established relationships. So we have one character with only one relationship, and three with more. I...

I like exploration of setting at times too. Just not exploration of taverns.

Sounds like your play flow is: Discuss theme -> Create characters with motivations -> Something that follows this. If that something is Action! then it fits how I like to play. If that something includes several hours of wandering around trying to figure out how to accomplish your goals or...

What makes RPGs great for me is being a participant in the types of stories that are told in great literature and myths. RPGs =/= literature, but literature is good when it tells great stories, and RPGs are good when they tell great stories. The fact that RPGs =/= literature is not what makes...