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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9048218" data-attributes="member: 42582">A bit more about the interplay of facilitation and response:It's common for "story now" systems to require the GM to say new things about the shared fiction, where precisely what to say isn't dictated by the system, but the GM does not have carte blanche to say whatever they like. Your system's rulebook should give you advice or examples to help with this. There's also no substitute for practice. But you can also think of it through the lens of facilitation and response.In particular, a "story now" GM should avoid "deprotagonising" responses - that is to say, responses that change the fiction in ways that don't reflect in some fashion the players' concern for their PC, and that don't provide avenues for the player to respond in terms of those concerns.The boundaries for this are all about context: what does the player expect? what do they understand themself to have put at stake (like [USER=82106]@AbdulAlhazred[/USER]'s example, just upthread, of the sword of power)? System is also important - to give an example, in the Marvel Heroic RPG the GM can "shut down" Captain America's shield whenever they want to (assuming the fiction permits it, and subject to the availability of an appropriate GM-side resources), but Cap's player can take a pretty straightforward action to get it back.To go back to the sword of power: does the player regard it as one of their concerns for their PC? Or is it something they take for granted a part of their PC, that will help them deal with the things that are their concerns? If, as GM, you think it might be exciting to put something important to the PC (and thus the player) at stake, but you're not sure and you don't want to deprotagonise, then start with something "soft": the bugbear king challenges the PC to a duel for the sword; the PC hears a rumour that a suspicious stranger is offering bribes to the PC's retainers, or telling false stories about the PC, to try and undermine their loyalty; etc. If the player expresses outrage, that might be a sign to back off a bit or at least proceed with care! If the player engages, great - you've facilitated, and now you can respond as is appropriate for the situation, given the particular system you're playing.</blockquote>

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