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And the reply was that this is true for all RPGing - there are elements of the shared fiction, and events in the shared fiction, that only exist because someone at the table does something. The player asks, "Is there a farrier in the village?" And so the GM decides there is. The players say...

You may be pretty sure, but the text confirms that you are mistaken. DMG pp 169, 173: When you need help in designing a dungeon - whether it is a level in your main dungeon or a labyrinth discovered elsewhere - the following random generation system has proven itself to be useful. It must be...

The boardgames (eg HeroQuest) are not RPGs. But RPGs have had pawn stance since their inception. I don't know how @Hussar sees the difference between a dungeon-crawl boardgame and a pawn-stance RPG. But to me it seems clear: in the latter, the players have fictional position, and the shared...

There is no "the GM's role in PbtA games". The role of the MC in Apocalypse World is pretty clear from the rulebook, and it involves prepping threats and fronts (after the first session). There is no reference to prepping situations. Maybe you're thinking of Dogs in the Vineyard? This question...

I assume you are stating your experience and preference here. If you mean that, of course, there will be local moments of resolution from time to time, well that is true. But if you mean that there should be significant periods of low- or no-stakes play, I don't share that preference. No I'm...

Thanks! It's not necessarily planning - I've used a lot of pre-written scenarios in Prince Valiant because the rulebook includes them, and when I got it (via Kickstarter) it shipped with an Episode Book that had more of them. But some of the ones in the Episode book need reworking (like the...

OK. Who disagreed with that? I quoted the whole passage, which includes reasoning: I do not think that playing princess is a shameful activity. If you do, you might need help, because you’re criticizing a very common childhood game. The name comes, of course, from the common role-adoption game...

Hang on - so you're saying that it is disparaging to be compared to girls playing princess? But not boys playing cops and robbers? Or have I misunderstood?

If "cops and robbers" is OK, but "princess play" is not, then I feel the gender point goes through 100%. My daughters never played cops and robbers as best I recall, but played endless hours of fairies and princesses and fairy princesses.

Your honour, I didn't kill them. I just introduced a substance into their food, which - when they ingested it - disrupted some cell membranes. It was their choice to take a drink, combined with the fragility of their cellular structure, that caused them to die!

He doesn't agree that they are disparaging terms - for instance,: the term “princess play” is not intended to be disparaging. I do not think that playing princess is a shameful activity. If you do, you might need help, because you’re criticizing a very common childhood game. The name comes, of...

Vincent Baker is not especially casual. He's serious about game design. I don't see how that makes him elitist or condescending.

He's written the essay to praise simulationist play. He is showing that it is worthwhile, and that it doesn't need to be described in different terms to defend itself. If you didn't work that out, I encourage you to re-read the blog.

Here is Baker again: If you're designing a Narrativist game, what you need are rules that create a) rising conflict b) across a moral line c) between fit characters d) according to the authorship of the players. Every new situation should be a step upward in that conflict, toward a climax and...

I don't really see the connection between winning and feelings/enjoyment. When I play card or board games, I often lose. That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy myself. In Australia, at least, we describe someone who can't enjoy a game unless they win as a "poor loser". Whether a game can be won...

Yeah, what would Vincent Baker know about designing RPGs? Much earlier in this thread we worked out that he's just some internet rando.

If you mean that Tuovinen has a sense of superiority about simulationist play, I think that's a bit unfair.

I play Torchbearer 2e. When PCs get injured, or sick, their performance of tasks is impeded. When they get exhausted, they are closer to death (without that being on a separate track from the damage track). When they use their skills/abilities, they get better at them. When they lose their gear...

I'm not sure that all do. For instance, some "cozy" RPGs seem to emphasise tea parties and the like. Some dungeon crawls, also, don't really have any sustained rising conflict. Eg White Plume Mountain is more like a series of puzzles. There are very local moments of rising conflict - eg you...

No he's not! In the paragraph I quoted he (i) mentions Fate (a game which most naturally supports simulationist play) and (ii) expressly contrasts Battletech with Fate and other "simmy" RPGs that are more easily drifted to narrativist play: some Simmy games are just more easily drifted towards...