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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6197203" data-attributes="member: 42582">Really? Which of the following two is typical DMing?They can't both be typical, because they are contradictory. Either the GM has a plan, and therefore has a responsibility for making sure it doesn't create a bad experience; or the GM doesn't have a plan, and hence has no such responsibility.As I said, both can't be the case.Of the following pair, which one is typical DMing?The first asserts that thematic relevance is the key criterion for framing a scene and introducing an obstacle. The second implies (and N'raac has elsewhere in this thread asserted, both in general and by reference to particular considerations like encumbrance) that a key criterion for introducing and adjudicating obstacles should be ingame "realism" - the causal logic of the gameworld. (See [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION]'s post 2 or 3 above this one for more elaboration of the distinction between thematically-driven GMing and "realistic" or procedurally-driven GMing.)They can't both be typical, because doing one precludes doing the other.I don't see how this can be true if it is also true that the GM has no preconception as to how a scene will resolve. Either the GM has a plan, and imposes that; or the GM has no plan, and events unfold via the interaction of player action declarations, action resolution mechanics, and GM adjudication where required. In the first case, the GM is the final arbiter but there is preconception; in the second case, their is no preconception and no final arbiter.What you are describing here could practically be a textbook description of the context for and consequences of deploying GM force. This is 100% the sort of play in which I have little to no interest. I want my players to "run rough-shod over the campaign world" - to tread the jewelled thrones of the earth under their sandalled feet, just as Conan did. If that sort of protagonism makes the game break, then for me that's a problem with the game, not with my players or my GMing.</blockquote>

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