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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8221532" data-attributes="member: 16814">Of course I'm not the arbiter of what you like -- I've said this multiple times.  My point has never been that, if you gave it the chance, you'd find you like improv games -- this would be a silly argument.  Instead, my point has been that when the fiction is created is not the point of contention.Like your opening statement -- if what's over the hill is exactly the same whether improved or prepped, you're saying that your immersion depends not on the level of detail or the fiction presented, but instead on when it was created.  If was it created in the moment, it's non-immersive.  If it was created last Wednesday, it's immersive.  I absolutely think this is silly, but what I don't think  and haven't said, is that there's not something important here!  I very much think there is something important in the difference between improv and prep, but when the fiction is created is not it.  So, then, it remains to examine what it is that is important. Another poster pointed to the feeling of agency -- that improv feels like they have less agency. And, absolutely, this is a great reason, and in a game like D&D, where the GM holds all the authority over the fiction, it's hard to escape a GM making things up as they go as allowing for suitable agency for the players.  This absolutely goes to immersion -- it's hard to immerse in something that you feel you have no control over at all.  But, I've pointed out that it's not really improv that causes this divide, but rather authority structures when paired with improv.  You can have the same problems with agency in a prepped game -- and this is where railroading comes from.There's also been talk of skilled play, and this can similarly be very different between prep and improv.  I'll readily agree that the kinds of skilled play possible in improv are different from those in prepped play, so this can be a large preference difference.  It's not that you can't have skilled play in improv games, it's just the kind of play is different.  You're playing the engine rather than the key, whereas in prepped games you're playing against both.  Playing against the key is definitely an valid play goal!I mean, I'm currently running a WotC AP, in 5e, with lots of prep.  I'm certainly not one-true-waying here at all, because I'm actively playing in a heavy prep game with strong GM control over the fiction and the plot pacing.  It's not like I dislike this approach.</blockquote>

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