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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5763006" data-attributes="member: 42582">I agree that this sort of game, in which the GM has predetermined the plot - and particularly the key features of the plot like antagonists, nature of the climax, etc - makes for bad RPGing.What I think is the contemporary pernicious influence on (at least some mainstream) RPGing is the idea that the only solution to dysfunctional GM plot authority is to abandon story altogether in pursuit of the minutiae of ultra-simulationist play and mechanics.Agreed. At least as I understand it, the basic rationale of the mechanics and techniques of situation-focused narrativist play is for the &quot;novel&quot; - the story with a recognisable aesthetic point - to emerge out of the players pursuing the themes/story elements they articulate via their PCs, as mediated through the situations the GM creates to engage those themes/story elements.Authority over backstory is shared between players (for their PCs and other relevant parts of the gameworld) and the GM (everything else, especially the situations); authority over situation rests with the GM; and no one has authority over plot - it emerges from the players engaging the situations via their PCs.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5763006, member: 42582"] I agree that this sort of game, in which the GM has predetermined the plot - and particularly the key features of the plot like antagonists, nature of the climax, etc - makes for bad RPGing. What I think is the contemporary pernicious influence on (at least some mainstream) RPGing is the idea that the only solution to dysfunctional GM plot authority is to abandon story altogether in pursuit of the minutiae of ultra-simulationist play and mechanics. Agreed. At least as I understand it, the basic rationale of the mechanics and techniques of situation-focused narrativist play is for the "novel" - the story with a recognisable aesthetic point - to emerge out of the players pursuing the themes/story elements they articulate via their PCs, as mediated through the situations the GM creates to engage those themes/story elements. Authority over backstory is shared between players (for their PCs and other relevant parts of the gameworld) and the GM (everything else, especially the situations); authority over situation rests with the GM; and no one has authority over plot - it emerges from the players engaging the situations via their PCs. [/QUOTE]

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