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<blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 7806013" data-attributes="member: 16586"><p>I definitely agree that exploratory play was a misnomer on my part. I am not talking about anything that came out of the Forge. The type of play I am talking about largely comes from the OSR (Old School Renaissance or Revival). It's the rediscovery of the way the war gaming community that was the initial audience for Dungeons and Dragons played the game.</p><p></p><p>Basically it is a personal level closed war game played with a referee. The sorts of war games that Gygax and Arneson played featured prepared scenarios with a referee who was on hand to use their expert knowledge to resolve how things went. Fog of war and asymmetrical information played a critical element in these war games. Often players would spend resources on their turns to scout out enemy forces and probe for weaknesses. Then players would declare their actions based on incomplete information and the referee would determine how things went based on their knowledge of the situation and military history.</p><p></p><p>Dungeons and Dragons was a natural outgrowth of this. Dungeons become the new scenario which players worked together to explore, remove riches, and exploit. The referee become responsible for making judgement calls when things were unclear and playing the monsters with integrity. Fog of war and asymmetric information still played a big part. A large part of the skill of the game involved navigating the environment, mapping out the terrain, and general reconnaissance. Combat was largely something to avoid unless you had an overwhelming advantage. Careful management of resources including spell slots, ammunition, food and water, etc, was crucial to success.</p><p></p><p>The purpose of the referee was two fold - represent the environment as accurately as possible and in the event that there something the rules did adequately cover or covered poorly make a ruling so play could proceed. It's a job that absolutely requires judgement, but not towards a particular outcome. They were supposed to judge every action not covered by the rules based on what they think would be likely to happen. For the most part referees were still expected to be bound by the rules unless there was something in the fiction that required them to make a judgement call. There were even referee only rules like morale and reaction rolls that were definitely expected to be adhered to.</p><p></p><p>This sort of play is deeply strategic, requires careful management of resources and information, and features asymmetric information for both players and referees.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Campbell, post: 7806013, member: 16586"] I definitely agree that exploratory play was a misnomer on my part. I am not talking about anything that came out of the Forge. The type of play I am talking about largely comes from the OSR (Old School Renaissance or Revival). It's the rediscovery of the way the war gaming community that was the initial audience for Dungeons and Dragons played the game. Basically it is a personal level closed war game played with a referee. The sorts of war games that Gygax and Arneson played featured prepared scenarios with a referee who was on hand to use their expert knowledge to resolve how things went. Fog of war and asymmetrical information played a critical element in these war games. Often players would spend resources on their turns to scout out enemy forces and probe for weaknesses. Then players would declare their actions based on incomplete information and the referee would determine how things went based on their knowledge of the situation and military history. Dungeons and Dragons was a natural outgrowth of this. Dungeons become the new scenario which players worked together to explore, remove riches, and exploit. The referee become responsible for making judgement calls when things were unclear and playing the monsters with integrity. Fog of war and asymmetric information still played a big part. A large part of the skill of the game involved navigating the environment, mapping out the terrain, and general reconnaissance. Combat was largely something to avoid unless you had an overwhelming advantage. Careful management of resources including spell slots, ammunition, food and water, etc, was crucial to success. The purpose of the referee was two fold - represent the environment as accurately as possible and in the event that there something the rules did adequately cover or covered poorly make a ruling so play could proceed. It's a job that absolutely requires judgement, but not towards a particular outcome. They were supposed to judge every action not covered by the rules based on what they think would be likely to happen. For the most part referees were still expected to be bound by the rules unless there was something in the fiction that required them to make a judgement call. There were even referee only rules like morale and reaction rolls that were definitely expected to be adhered to. This sort of play is deeply strategic, requires careful management of resources and information, and features asymmetric information for both players and referees. [/QUOTE]
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