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<blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8224014" data-attributes="member: 16814">I think it's worth a separate point to say that I 1000% (extra zero intentional) think that GMs doing strong prep and not changing it is both cool and satisfies a particular set of gaming needs.&nbsp; My argument about the fiction should not be read, in any way, as a disparagement of strong prep.&nbsp; I'm pointing out that the shared fiction is the only &quot;real&quot; part of the game -- everything else is alterable for any reason, and the choices of the GM, do not change this.&nbsp; It's only when it actually impacts the game fiction that it becomes, in any sense, &quot;real.&quot;&nbsp; And, yes, prep can impact play in very subtle ways, but only when it enters the shared fiction with those subtleties.Prep is also&nbsp; not the only way to get a vibrant, consistent, and believable worlds, including one where things happen &quot;offstage.&quot;&nbsp; Nor is the only alternative approach to prep the GM just making everything up as they want in the moment.&nbsp; Games like Blades in the Dark and the Powered by the Apocalypse games are very much played in the moment, with prep being difficult to impossible,&nbsp; but the GM is tightly constrained in these games such that they cannot just negate or allow any action as they want to.&nbsp; And, some of these kinds of approaches can be brought into D&amp;D (not all, because D&amp;D isn't built to sustain them, but some).&nbsp; The ways you can run a skill challenge, for instance, can allow for play that cannot be prepped, but instead played out in the moment, and the results can be as good as the best prep you'd want to put it up against in terms of vibrant, &quot;living&quot; worlds.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ovinomancer, post: 8224014, member: 16814"] I think it's worth a separate point to say that I 1000% (extra zero intentional) think that GMs doing strong prep and not changing it is both cool and satisfies a particular set of gaming needs. My argument about the fiction should not be read, in any way, as a disparagement of strong prep. I'm pointing out that the shared fiction is the only "real" part of the game -- everything else is alterable for any reason, and the choices of the GM, do not change this. It's only when it actually impacts the game fiction that it becomes, in any sense, "real." And, yes, prep can impact play in very subtle ways, but only when it enters the shared fiction with those subtleties. Prep is also not the only way to get a vibrant, consistent, and believable worlds, including one where things happen "offstage." Nor is the only alternative approach to prep the GM just making everything up as they want in the moment. Games like Blades in the Dark and the Powered by the Apocalypse games are very much played in the moment, with prep being difficult to impossible, but the GM is tightly constrained in these games such that they cannot just negate or allow any action as they want to. And, some of these kinds of approaches can be brought into D&D (not all, because D&D isn't built to sustain them, but some). The ways you can run a skill challenge, for instance, can allow for play that cannot be prepped, but instead played out in the moment, and the results can be as good as the best prep you'd want to put it up against in terms of vibrant, "living" worlds. [/QUOTE]

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