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See also, George Carlin on driving speed: Have you ever noticed that when you’re drivin’, anyone goin’ slower than you is an idiot? And anyone goin’ faster than you is a maniac? "Will you look at this idiot!” [points right] “Look at him! Just creepin’ along!” [swings head left] “Holy s—...

IMO that's good for both player engagement and player agency. When the player zooms in on specific aspects of the narration, and asks about those aspects, then that can also indicate where the character is directing their attention, and what the character is prioritizing. We humans don't...

Thank you for mentioning the Geek Social Fallacy terror of exclusion. You beat me to it! For those who'd like a full explanation of the concept, try this link: http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html There are some posts which examine the interaction of the GSF, with the "missing...

Have you often (or too often) seen that happen, in a situation such that the GM attempted to paper over such weaknesses in the story content, via florid narration? or via other emphasis on the *scenery* of the story? The arboreal elven settlements in the Jackson "Lord of the Rings" movies are...

Yes, regarding cultural cues. The DM need not explain what a zombie is, any more than the DM would explain what a gazebo or a githyanki is. If the DM says twenty words (or so) to narrate the situation, then the other nineteen words besides "zombie" should not explain what a zombie is; those...

On another hand, Eric the Paladin died, when he responded to a gazebo, by pulling out his bow and shooting it, without making sure he understood what the DM meant by "gazebo". Eric the Paladin lived and died by "anything other than scenery is a level-appropriate monster for me to fight". If a...

Indeed. A narration which fails to anticipate and address obvious questions, is (in general) a narration which fails to establish situation as an opportunity for player agency and PC initiative. (Aldarc used a more precise formula, which I cannot recall verbatim, but please take my phrasing as...

Auto mechanics... or game mechanics?

First, thanks for a direct answer, to a question about an example! Positions explained in reference to examples are more helpful to me, than positions argued in reference to dictionary definitions, which is why I included Maxperson's carved staff in version #1. That said: I mean #1 and #2 as...

IMO this passage right here shows BRG turning from what someone else thinks *should* work, to what *does* work in actual practice. I respect that. I have a different personality and different players, so maybe the turning point between "this works" and "this doesn't work" falls differently for...

I am curious what level of evocative language is necessary, that is, the level below which your players stop caring, stop enjoying the session. Would this level suffice: "GM Alex tells the players: "You enter the room. There's a wooden door on the north side, comfortably sized for Jinbat (the...

Yes. There are many human activities which seek quality narration and/or performance. TRPG is unusual, maybe even unique, in its use of situation and resulting inhabitation and protagonism. Hussar, you agree with that, right? If you've said so before, would you like to re-affirm your agreement...

Yes. Duh. Has anyone said otherwise? Also, fire is hot. One can just say so, without introducing the complication of whether fire is also literary. So far as I can tell, pemerton's thread title is misleading; it isn't what he actually cares about. If, in a TRPG session, GMs give only the most...

You're saying that a dozen posts which get Kevin Rolfe's name wrong, are worse than the Hollywood blacklists resulting from McCarthy's Red Scare? That's a bold, unconventional position. We might even call it... edgy.

I asked, on page 1 and again on page 119: if TRPG is literary, then what? if TRPG isn't literary, then what? If this conversational endeavor is also a literary endeavor, *how does that overlap of endeavor differ from non-overlap?* You still haven't answered my question. (Smugness does not...

I am not convinced that organized play NEEDS to accommodate those players. IMO, organized play *could* stop accommodating that style of play, and take active measures to discourage that kind of player from participating. This would require some clear intention, communicating that intention...

Maybe because you have not made any assertions which are (a) sufficiently concrete for falsification testing (Karl Popper style) and (b) in contrast with any assertions from Hussar. You said in the OP that TRPG is not a literary endeavor. I asked, on the first page: if it is, then what? if not...

In the transcript of the interview, Kevin Rolfe says he told the players that their characters woke up in the back of a van, naked, and handcuffed to each other. I infer, from Rolfe's account, that he then *immediately* had men with guns appear, expel the PCs from the van, and tell the PCs to...

You say that as if this is a phenomenon which only happens as a result of social media. Did you hear about that time some professionals in the Hollywood film industry got fired, because of public pressure related to their off-the-job political activity, long before the Internet existed...

You have a strong point about what's already in the mix of existing TRPGs. That said, I see a difference between rape and infidelity. Arthur discovering that Lancelot and Guinevere have an affair is one thing. Arthur discovering that Lancelot has taken Guinevere against her consent, by threat or...