hawkeyefan
Legend
Thats the peculiar thing about this hamfisted otherizing; they make others out of the same.
I think it’s far more hamfisted to assume that all games are identical.
That is, you're asserting that there exists a fundamentally separate game thats only played in such and such way, when the reality is that its all just the same game.
There are in fact RPGs designed and intended to be played a specific way. Some of these RPGs work quite differently from one another.
Not every RPG is intended to be hammered and molded into whatever experience the players want. Some people may choose to do this, but that doesn’t mean that’s how the game was designed.
And more over, you didn't really answer the question, and in fact doubled down on it. Broadly gesturing towards nowhere in particular doesnt constitute proof of these GMs existing, nor does it conjure into truth that what these hypothetical GMs are doing is just a style of play and not just them being bad at running RPGs.
I don’t expect that there’s any evidence I can provide that will satisfy you, is there? I mean, if you haven’t seen examples of this kind of stuff in RPGs and here on EN World and similar places of discussion, then I don’t really know what to tell you.
I can say that I have absolutely been that GM myself. I’ve ignored player cues or outright requests in order to keep the game focused on what I wanted it to be focused on. This was mostly in my earlier days of GMing, and mostly with trad type games. I didn’t have exposure to the variety of games that I now have. It wasn’t done with malice or any kind of ill intent… it was mostly done from lack of understanding.
Honestly, that’s when my group largely shifted to a more neotrad approach, though we never would have called it that… this was years before the term was invented. But there was a significant shift that we made and it resulted in more enjoyable play.
This is why I reject your claim that there are no differences. In my experience, there clearly are.
And it should be said too that all of this also flies entirely beyond the simple fact that none of this has diddly or squat to do with design, not even on a theoretical level.
I don’t agree with that at all. Theory aside, at a practical level, design decisions of these sorts will shape the player experience.
All this fuss is spending a lot of effort and brainpower on a hyperfixation with a very small part of an overall experience that only becomes so problematic if you sit yourself on a mountain of assumptions about the people playing whatever game, whilst ignoring the game itself.
Honestly this six cultures stuff really just comes off as Hogwarts Houses; its fun to think about on a surface level but then theres people that will really overthink the differences between a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin when the source material is a half-inch deep on the subject.
I realize that you only get so verbose because your thoughts are so complex… but if you don’t consider this worthwhile, then why spill as much virtual ink as you have?
But even if we step back from hyperbole, the collaboration angle is just weak. Sure a player can pitch story directions and seeds, but that still puts the burden of creation on the GM, and its entirely uncalled for to say the GM is doing something wrong if they fail to do so, or even just decide not to.
I don’t think anyone has said that the GM is doing anything wrong. I think that largely depends on player expectations and what kind of experience the GM has pitched.
It’s really only a problem if the GM pitches a neotrad game and then delivers a trad experience. Or vice versa.
But of course, it also has to be said that the whole assumption underlying this is that the player is coming to the table with a story, and thats never been a good idea to begin with. If you've already got a story, just write a book.
This is a pretty bold claim. Again, plenty of games do this, whether it’s the players having story ideas or the GM. Or, as is incredibly often the case, the designers of a prewritten adventure.
It’s a huge swath of RPGing that you’re describing as a bad idea. While also somehow implying that all games are the same.
I’m really struggling to understand your point. It seems to amount to “I don’t like neotrad play so it should not exist”… but it can’t be that simple or you’d have managed to boil it down to one sentence.
Obviously 495 is talking about a rather unusual one GM one player ttrpg(which one?)
No, I wasn’t talking about that. I’m talking about a GM working with each player to find out what they want the game to be about, and then working to deliver that game. The players are expected to have their own goals and the GM works them into the game.
I assure you this is a real thing… I’ve done it! Very often.
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