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<blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 6811961" data-attributes="member: 85870"><p>Just a few thoughts --- </p><p></p><p>I don't know that the point of "just-in-time" GM-ing is to save prep time per se. The benefit of "just-in-time" GM-ing is that it empowers players and fosters engagement toward things that matter to the players within the fiction. </p><p></p><p>Preparation time goes down when you have a game system that allows you to prepare quickly, and/or generate usable elements that require mechanical resolution "just in time" within the game. I welcome player input to the fiction and allow high levels of freedom for my players to choose what they do and where they go, because I know that if there's ever a situation where I need to generate an element of the fiction "on the fly," with Savage Worlds I can say, "Give me 30 to 60 seconds to jot down some ideas." And whatever it is they want to interact with, I can almost always conceivably make a viable, fun encounter.</p><p></p><p>Sometimes there are things in the fiction that I'm not sure about, but I don't necessarily just say "yes" to the players right off the cuff (though this is becoming more rare as I've discovered that most of the time it's just easier and more fun to say "yes"). In these cases I'll do a simple percentile roll and ask the player, "High or low?" If the player's particularly invested in it, I'll even let them negotiate with me how probable they think it should be. The players seem to find this a reasonable compromise when I don't just say yes outright, because then once we've set what's at stake in the fiction, I'm no longer the arbiter or not; it's the dice that tell the tale.</p><p></p><p>I get where @<em><strong><u><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=48965" target="_blank">Imaro</a></u></strong></em> is going with the idea that it doesn't matter whether something is pre-prepped a week in advance or thrown on the table spur-of-the-moment, there is potential for a GM's biases to affect what is presented. If the GM's interested in having the PCs fight pirates, it doesn't matter if the GM has meticulously planned out a pirate crew weeks before, or the first time the players set foot in a seaport and make a failed check to gather information and the pirates just "magically appear" right then. If the GM wants pirates, the PCs get pirates. </p><p></p><p>And I think the idea behind this, if a GM's biases are going to become evident in play, why not have the GM go through the necessary prep so that the pirate encounter---when presented---is more fully fleshed out, potentially balanced, and meaningful?</p><p></p><p>In terms of when to introduce a pre-planned/pre-prepped element, I do think the timing matters. In @<em><strong><u><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=42582" target="_blank">pemerton</a></u></strong></em>'s example, if I had an in-fiction element of the well, and in my head had initially thought that the well was just dry, but the player says, "Someone's poisoned the well, haven't they?" Well now guess what --- the well is poisoned, and not just dried up. And now they've potentially expressed interest in WHO poisoned the well . . . so maybe it's a good time to introduce a new fictional element of the NPC well poisoner.</p><p></p><p>"Fail forward" / low prep / "just-in-time" GM-ing is also highly, HIGHLY contingent on the players being willing to have characters that express beliefs and have motivations in play, and the system needs to correctly position the characters in the fiction when played towards type.</p><p></p><p>There's a definite balance between pre-prepping and "just in time" GM-ing, but I've found the more you can push yourself into the "just in time" GM-ing spectrum, the better your game ends up.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="innerdude, post: 6811961, member: 85870"] Just a few thoughts --- I don't know that the point of "just-in-time" GM-ing is to save prep time per se. The benefit of "just-in-time" GM-ing is that it empowers players and fosters engagement toward things that matter to the players within the fiction. Preparation time goes down when you have a game system that allows you to prepare quickly, and/or generate usable elements that require mechanical resolution "just in time" within the game. I welcome player input to the fiction and allow high levels of freedom for my players to choose what they do and where they go, because I know that if there's ever a situation where I need to generate an element of the fiction "on the fly," with Savage Worlds I can say, "Give me 30 to 60 seconds to jot down some ideas." And whatever it is they want to interact with, I can almost always conceivably make a viable, fun encounter. Sometimes there are things in the fiction that I'm not sure about, but I don't necessarily just say "yes" to the players right off the cuff (though this is becoming more rare as I've discovered that most of the time it's just easier and more fun to say "yes"). In these cases I'll do a simple percentile roll and ask the player, "High or low?" If the player's particularly invested in it, I'll even let them negotiate with me how probable they think it should be. The players seem to find this a reasonable compromise when I don't just say yes outright, because then once we've set what's at stake in the fiction, I'm no longer the arbiter or not; it's the dice that tell the tale. I get where @[I][B][U][URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=48965"]Imaro[/URL][/U][/B][/I] is going with the idea that it doesn't matter whether something is pre-prepped a week in advance or thrown on the table spur-of-the-moment, there is potential for a GM's biases to affect what is presented. If the GM's interested in having the PCs fight pirates, it doesn't matter if the GM has meticulously planned out a pirate crew weeks before, or the first time the players set foot in a seaport and make a failed check to gather information and the pirates just "magically appear" right then. If the GM wants pirates, the PCs get pirates. And I think the idea behind this, if a GM's biases are going to become evident in play, why not have the GM go through the necessary prep so that the pirate encounter---when presented---is more fully fleshed out, potentially balanced, and meaningful? In terms of when to introduce a pre-planned/pre-prepped element, I do think the timing matters. In @[I][B][U][URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=42582"]pemerton[/URL][/U][/B][/I]'s example, if I had an in-fiction element of the well, and in my head had initially thought that the well was just dry, but the player says, "Someone's poisoned the well, haven't they?" Well now guess what --- the well is poisoned, and not just dried up. And now they've potentially expressed interest in WHO poisoned the well . . . so maybe it's a good time to introduce a new fictional element of the NPC well poisoner. "Fail forward" / low prep / "just-in-time" GM-ing is also highly, HIGHLY contingent on the players being willing to have characters that express beliefs and have motivations in play, and the system needs to correctly position the characters in the fiction when played towards type. There's a definite balance between pre-prepping and "just in time" GM-ing, but I've found the more you can push yourself into the "just in time" GM-ing spectrum, the better your game ends up. [/QUOTE]
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