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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9053194" data-attributes="member: 42582">A follow-up to the preceding post:As a "story now" GM, be wary of aspects of the RPG you're playing which mean that the only way to resolve a situation you've set up is for you, as GM, to make up an outcome. This is an obstacle to player protagonism, because it tends to put you - the GM - in charge of obstacles, and stakes, and consequences, and so basically you're just telling the players a story.This is the problem with Classic Traveller onworld exploration that I mentioned upthread - the GM controls framing and outcomes, perhaps mediated via maps or notes that they have prepared.In some RPGs, this problem is a feature, often a well-known feature, of social conflicts.With that said, "being wary" doesn't mean "avoiding". As I also mentioned upthread, in my Classic Traveller play I don't avoid having the PCs do things onworld. It's just that I use this as framing and colour - part of setting up situations - rather than as an aspect of resolution in itself.In A Wicked Age takes a similar approach to some sorts of conflict (p 12): When do you roll dice? Roll dice when one character undertakes to do some concrete thing, and another character can and would try to interfere. Every player with a character involved, including you as GM, rolls dice for their own character. If you have more than one NPC involved, roll separate dice for each. Don’t roll dice when two characters are having a conversation, no matter how heated it becomes; wait until one or the other acts. Don’t roll dice when a character undertakes to do some concrete thing and no other character can or would try to interfere.The precise boundary between "having a conversation" and "doing some concrete thing", acting, must be a matter for each table, though some examples provided on the same page are suggestive of Vincent Baker's thoughts as the game's designer:Amek [a chieftain] and Tajie [a beautiful woman under his protection] are in some private circumstance, taking a meal maybe, and Shahu Seen [a wandering spirit that inflames human passions] whispers in Amek’s ear, pointing out the curve of Tajie’s lip and the way the light falls on her throat, inciting Amek’s passion. You as GM roll dice for Shahu Seen, and Amek’s and Tajie’s players roll dice for their characters. Bolu Ta [an exorcist] confronts Fa Il Shar [a priest] and argues with him that his harvest god is just a stone, and his religion is just foolish superstition. Nobody rolls any dice. Bolu Ta and Fa Il Shar are arguing, and finally Fa Il Shar tires of the argument and hits Bolu Ta with his stick. Bolu Ta’s player rolls dice for him, and you as GM roll dice for Fa Il Shar. . . . Mekha [a young man in love with Tajie] finds Tajie in her tent and confesses his love to her. Shahu Seen whispers in their ears. Tajie’s player considers the situation and decides that Tajie doesn’t resist, but gives in to Shahu Seen’s whispers and Mekha’s passion. Nobody rolls any dice.If the RPG you are playing makes certain parts of the fiction candidate elements of framing, but not resolution, you need to make sure that you - as a "story now" GM - don't inadvertently use your authority over framing to close of possibilities in a way that deprotagonises the players.</blockquote>

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