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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6374811" data-attributes="member: 2067">This is a bigger, different conversation, but...[sblock]I think this is broadly true, but runs the risk of over-stating the level of conscious control exercised in play. Writers, performers, and other creative types will often speak of their creations as having something of a mind of their own, an impetus and order and insistence that feels out of control of the individual doing the creating. This is the "genius" or "muse" -- bringing your creation to fruition guided by instinct and intuition rather than active, conscious choice. In gameplay, this is often referred to as "flow," a mindset where you're not aware of your will being enacted, where you're just "in the moment."In D&D, this state of flow might look much like an improv session, with in-character talking and players inhabiting the same mental space that their characters are, reacting naturally and in synch with the imaginary world. Certainly this is where I am in my most pleased in playing D&D. As a DM, this is when the world is "living and breathing," a distinct entity from its creators, where it can be said to have wants and needs and desires of its own, a kind of muse-like autonomy. When I don't know what will happen because I'm not actively choosing and willing it, I'm just kicking it by instinct and feel and I'm as surprised as anyone else by the things that happen in the world. So a "living, breathing" world would be one that obeyed those subconcious signals, one that ennabled flow, one where the decisions and choices are not clear, anymore than it is clear when you play a Bullet Hell game that you are actively choosing when to press a given button, or when you are in the zone in basketball that it is clear that you are consciously willing your body to move a certain way.Minor encounters that don't consume resources might help that vibe because they are expressions of the world that are not actively chosen by the DM, but rather products of the flow of gameplay. [/sblock]</blockquote>

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