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<blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 4713910" data-attributes="member: 15538">One of the jobs of the GM is to surprise the players. To be fair, but also, maybe sometimes, to be unfair. To challenge. To amuse and inspire. It is simply not possible to surprise yourself. I am all for delegation and for taking player suggestions, but the job of a GM is to fulfill certain things that cannot be supplied by the players. The GM provides a world. If the entire game world is distributed amongst the players, there is basically no world. Instead, you have statements from the players about what they wish. Stating, &quot;The inn is full of seedy characters,&quot; is no longer a weave in the game's reality, but a move, a narration, a suggestion. You can certainly have a group of players who all narrate for each other and provide surprise. But I would not describe that as having no GM or simply unpacking the GM's duties. It's basically the same as having multiple GMs. And it only works if the GMs are all basically competent. Further, you end up in a situation where a game has no PCs, only NPCs. The purpose of an RPG is not merely story-weaving. The interactional element is important, too. A PC is an avatar of a personal intention by the player. The PC is not the player, but they reflect their will and provide a character in the game who will be their viewpoint, their locus of interest, their being because of a reason.Without a GM, the game ceases to be about the PCs and becomes about the players.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pawsplay, post: 4713910, member: 15538"] One of the jobs of the GM is to surprise the players. To be fair, but also, maybe sometimes, to be unfair. To challenge. To amuse and inspire. It is simply not possible to surprise yourself. I am all for delegation and for taking player suggestions, but the job of a GM is to fulfill certain things that cannot be supplied by the players. The GM provides a world. If the entire game world is distributed amongst the players, there is basically no world. Instead, you have statements from the players about what they wish. Stating, "The inn is full of seedy characters," is no longer a weave in the game's reality, but a move, a narration, a suggestion. You can certainly have a group of players who all narrate for each other and provide surprise. But I would not describe that as having no GM or simply unpacking the GM's duties. It's basically the same as having multiple GMs. And it only works if the GMs are all basically competent. Further, you end up in a situation where a game has no PCs, only NPCs. The purpose of an RPG is not merely story-weaving. The interactional element is important, too. A PC is an avatar of a personal intention by the player. The PC is not the player, but they reflect their will and provide a character in the game who will be their viewpoint, their locus of interest, their being because of a reason. Without a GM, the game ceases to be about the PCs and becomes about the players. [/QUOTE]

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