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What does it matter if it's a low threshold? Is there something inherently superior about setting oneself a more difficult task, when the simpler task is providing the desired outcomes? In any case, while there are a wide range of possible outcomes, the number of likely outcomes is smaller. If...

You know it's consistent when the outcomes of your decisions consistently make sense. A lot of people are talking about how players can't make informed decisions in this style of play, but those advocating it know that players are in fact making informed decisions. And sure, it's always...

Because your average GM is certainly comparable in power, influence and authority to the Pope...

I completely fail to understand it why you'd even want to, but there are definitely people on this board and elsewhere who claim to play without trust. It's an utterly alien position to me, but there are people who seem to genuinely mean it.

Yet you have the ongoing power to withdraw consent at any time. And note that this isn't a simple black and white, "Stay or walk out". Any player should be perfectly capable of saying, "Hey, this doesn't seem to make logical sense, what's going on?" In fact, I would say that doing so (if you...

A few posts ago, I said a particular decision could be made by mutual consent. You responded by asking me to defend my claim that the only thing a sandbox needs is mutual consent -- but I had made no such claim at all. I didn't jump to the extreme position that a sandbox needs nothing but...

Well, if you honestly believe anyone in this thread is arguing that it is possible to run a game without any form of consent from the players, then you are absolutely correct, there is no possible hope of progress. I mean, I also understand why you would disagree with someone holding that...

Well, if you can find any example from anyone in this thread actually claiming that a GM in any style of play is able to make any decision without either the implicit or explicit consent of the players, I will happily join you in disagreeing with them.

One: If you can point me to where I said mutual consent is the only thing a sandbox needs, I'll be happy to address this point. Otherwise, I will pass on that straw man. Two: If someone else told you GM's can run games without the consent of their players, take it up with them, there's no point...

I don't see why it has to be a binary one or the other. From my perspective, it's both; without the cooperation of both players and GM, nothing happens at all. If the PCs arrive at a given location and play continues, it must be by mutual consent.

As long as we're talking about maps and sandboxes, I have discovered that maps based mostly on landmarks, combined with the Alexandrian's hexcrawling rules make for some of the most evocative wildnerness exploration I've been involved in.

If I'm confident that I'm going to a run a game or get useful material out of it that I will use when running a game, I will most likely purchase it. Most likely, it needs to have inspired me in some way, or fill a specific need I'd previously identified. The vast, vast majority of products...

One of the issues I've seen people mention about super light games as entry points to the hobby is they are actually built on a whole host of assumptions that you're probably not familiar with unless you are already familiar with roleplaying. As a starting point, your rules, taken without any...

(Emphasis mine) When you're saying such games are necessarily GM-directed, you seem to be agreeing with the point I just made -- if it's necessary to be that way, then clearly you believe that it is impossible for it to be otherwise. Some of us disagree that such games are necessarily...

It's covers pretty much the same ground as the Primer, albeit written in a way a lot of people find more approachable. I'm a big fan of the Primer (which was part of my introduction to OSR, after I'd pretty much ignored D&D in the 80s and 90s), but these days I'd direct a new player to the...

It seems pretty obvious to me that there are people in this conversation who believe it is literally impossible for a GM to provide players with sufficient information and to rule consistently enough for players to be able to make informed (edit: or meaningful) decisions and rely on the outcomes...

I stated that if the players only have four options in total for things they're able to do, that is insufficient. I'm not sure if your "previously" refers to me, but I certainly didn't say anything about rumours specifically. If the game has been going for any length of time there should...

This is correct. I do indeed look to run and design campaigns that I expect will be fun and not boring, and many of the design steps aren't done with a sense of impartiality (although some are). But, again, I will state I'm not interested in rehashing the entire discussion, especially since you...