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Specifically in the context of trad play used for sandboxes, like Stars Without Number (and other OSR games like Into the Odd) or any game using Blorb Principles with highly prepped material what I want is success or failure to be based on my skilled negotiation of the fictional environment. If...

Ultimately the sort of games that leave the GM beholden to the rules are ones where the GM's other responsibilities make it difficult to also be a referee. To run a game like Apocalypse Keys properly I cannot be a neutral arbiter. I need to be invested in the characters, deeply invested so I can...

Basically, when a GM sits down and engages in world design and/or scenario design then they are doing the same thing a video game level designer does. They are setting the operational and information environments that players will be interacting with. This is a crucial responsibility that...

The point of the contention here is that some of us believe that when you are assigning these traits and engaging in the creative act of setting the stage that you are responsible for the impact of that NPC design (and how it ultimately impact play). I don't think anyone has to care, but it has...

I do not think it's inherently railroady. I do think this sort of thing should be meaningfully knowable before it likes trips people in the face and these sorts of landmines can be a bit of a bad smell - in terms of it may indicate but is not definitely a case of GM manipulation of play through...

Here's my personal view. That when you are stepping outside of norms formalizing things helps a lot more. I think when you are playing and running a more conventional game you can get away most relying on implicit expectations and a lack of formal process. But a lack of formal processes and...

So, it's not about forcing anyone - it's about choosing to play with people (including other players) who embrace accountability, want to be held accountable and just as crucially will hold others accountable. It's not all that serious either. We're not holding after action reports or...

I think the biggest thing for me was being more selective about both the games I would run and who I would run them for. Early on I run games that I thought people wanted to play in the way I thought they wanted to play them and like largely recruited from tabletop RPG meetups and game stores...

I do not think there's a mediocre referee problem. I think there's an undue burden because we put it on referees to align players' informal expectations into a cohesive game. That rather than seeking alignment of everyone's natural desires the easiest way to reach alignment at the table is for...

I would trust needs to be about particular expectations. Like no amount of trusting a GM will help if they are trying to tell a story and I just want a compelling challenge. I do think the baseline expectations of how play should function work for a significant amount of people. But that's about...

I mean Dollhouse Play specifically refers to significant stretches of play without either resolving or establishing meaningful stakes. If you see a description of dollhouse play and see it as reflective of your game, I'm not sure what to tell you. Do you feel like that's descriptive of your game...

No problem here, as long as we accept that setup matters here. That part of how a GM can set the table for how much player's choices matter is in setting, situation and NPC design.

So that means you should lie about how that style actually works? That you not liking it means you have free cover to call it non-functional and make all sorts of declarations about how it works that don't match multiple decades of practice many of us have experienced.

All anyone is saying is that interaction design is important. That as GMs we are responsible for the way our setting and scenario design impacts the decision space available to people who play our games. That an analysis of how free players are to make choices includes that setting and scenario...

At the very least I think your standard for something being a railroad should be more significant than has some choices about means but not aims. Because if our standard is it's not a railroad if you buy a ticket on the train or there is some very minimal amount of choice involved than railroad...

It's a lot closer to forces of nature, especially once Ruin moves come into play. The Omens are often as much of a threat to themselves and each other as the threats they are facing. It feels pretty close to Golden Army Hellboy in power level and theme. My group adored it. They loved how the...

Clair Obscur - Expedition 33 might be my favorite of the last 5 years or so. Black Myth - Wukong, Yakuza - Like A Dragon and Sifu are really the only games that come close. The earnest storytelling combined with an insanely fun combat system that rewards dodging and parrying while including fun...

Yeah. You just need to know where to look. It doesn't come from the same people or exist in the same spaces, but there is an abundance of creativity. It's not fundamentally different from say people complaining about AAA video games while denying the well-storm of creativity in AA games...

I care that the final product delivers a unique and cohesive experience. I don't require the components to be particularly innovative. Some of my favorite games include Into The Odd, Apocalypse Keys and Legend of the Five Rings Fifth Edition. None of these games have mechanics or play procedures...

At the end of day we cannot say anything definitive about what roleplaying games are or how their designers are allowed to define their play procedures because roleplaying games aren't one defined thing. It's just a broad category for games that share similar characteristics. Apocalypse Keys is...