JamesonCourage
Adventurer
Slightly, yes. That's why I brought it up. I find that the system should give as much solid support to the players as possible, and -at least for my group- the GM should then say "and this is how the game is different." This means that players are empowered in nearly everything, though they lose some power when the GM changes how something works every so often (though this leaves nearly everything else there to empower them).Don't you find a contradiction there though?
It admittedly wouldn't work for every group, but the dynamic works well for mine. I can say "here's the insanity mechanics for using magic" and the players are still massively empowered by the rest of the rules.
Social contract. I think that a good GM generally won't do this in a way that won't work with long term players (because if he does, the players with which this isn't a fit will leave his group). Additionally, poor GMs who abuse this rule are more likely to be poor in other areas, from my experience (Rule 0 abuse from the GM is commonly found with GMPCs or railroad plots, from my experience).If you like systems that codify elements so as to empower the player, how do you rationalize having a DM/GM who can, at any point in time, invalidate any rule?
Basically, empower the player as much as possible, and give the GM control enough to change the world to suit his creative needs, fix holes in the rules when "common sense" (as it applies to the social contract) makes sense, and the like. Does that answer your question sufficiently? As always, play what you like
