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Message: <blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 6803834" data-attributes="member: 85870">First of all, any opportunity to bring in <a href="http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=612" target="_blank">DM of the Rings</a> to the conversation should be celebrated heartily. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />The question of pre-authoring versus Story Now / Just-in-time GM-ing / mutable fiction is obviously not a binary. In fact, I'm a strong believer that diligent, coherent pre-authoring is a necessary precursor to running a successful campaign. To me it's much easier for the GM to later break that pre-authoring when needed if they have a strong grasp on how a given "break" will spill out into following frames. The shift to "Just-in-time GM-ing" happens more directly in play. It's a reaction on my part to trying to be more open and flexible to player desires. And I know for me it has worked wonders in building the types of campaigns that I enjoy. My 14-month long Savage Worlds fantasy campaign was a direct result of a dedicated commitment to not having any "end game" in mind, but to "scene frame" based on what the players were giving me, with just the right amount of pre-authoring to make the frames coherent. To follow up on the hypothetical Lord of the Rings example: If I was the GM, the nature of the One Ring would be set in stone. But let's say the player running the "Frodo" character came to me and said, "What if I'm not entirely sure my uncle Bilbo is telling me the truth?" Maybe it's because he wants wants to explore something different in his character than "tragic heroism," so he imagines up that his uncle Bilbo isn't a good guy, but is in fact manipulating him.The Ring is still the Ring, but now the Frodo character is exploring an entirely different set of fictional circumstances to react to / play against. Would I as a GM be willing to change the fiction to potentially give the player what he wanted? Prior to 2010 or so, the answer would be a definite "No. That's not how the story is set up." Now? I'd strongly consider it.</blockquote>

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