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<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8084418" data-attributes="member: 6785785">I think one key thing to remember here is that just about any written work that we wind up seeing has gone through at least some amount of revision and reworking and editing. A first draft is far more likely to have elements that surprise the author than the final draft. With a RPG, we're generally only having one draft and that's crafted through play. Now, there may be elements that are predetermined by the GM....the amount of which will vary from game to game, and from group to group. I think the default assumption is always that the GM will decide all manner of things ahead of time, and that's because that's the way that D&amp;D tends to do things, and so it's the prevailing method. But I don't think it's necessarily better. It may be at times, and for certain things....but definitely not always. I look back at how often I'd get frustrated as a DM because some villain that I'd created.....I spent time on the mechanics and even more on the backstory and motives and connections and their place in the world and so on....would be viewed by my players no differently than some random orc. Very often the amount of details we tend to come up with for NPCs is far greater than it needs to be, and not necessarily suited for their place in the ongoing story. Leaving those elements unestablished until play means it's easier to see how the game has gone by the time of the NPC's introduction, and to then tailor things to be more suitable or meaningful. It's easier to make the details you do give to the NPC resonate with the players because they seem to matter more.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 8084418, member: 6785785"] I think one key thing to remember here is that just about any written work that we wind up seeing has gone through at least some amount of revision and reworking and editing. A first draft is far more likely to have elements that surprise the author than the final draft. With a RPG, we're generally only having one draft and that's crafted through play. Now, there may be elements that are predetermined by the GM....the amount of which will vary from game to game, and from group to group. I think the default assumption is always that the GM will decide all manner of things ahead of time, and that's because that's the way that D&D tends to do things, and so it's the prevailing method. But I don't think it's necessarily better. It may be at times, and for certain things....but definitely not always. I look back at how often I'd get frustrated as a DM because some villain that I'd created.....I spent time on the mechanics and even more on the backstory and motives and connections and their place in the world and so on....would be viewed by my players no differently than some random orc. Very often the amount of details we tend to come up with for NPCs is far greater than it needs to be, and not necessarily suited for their place in the ongoing story. Leaving those elements unestablished until play means it's easier to see how the game has gone by the time of the NPC's introduction, and to then tailor things to be more suitable or meaningful. It's easier to make the details you do give to the NPC resonate with the players because they seem to matter more. [/QUOTE]

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