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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4717046" data-attributes="member: 80487">SabreCat, that's getting needlessly artful. Ever played Battleship or Stratego?More to the point: If you've ever played D&D as it was originally designed to be played, then you should recognize that the experience is different. The point of the GM-less (or any "story" driven) approach is to produce a different experience.The Dungeon! board game is GM-less, and yet another experience (more akin to Clue).Only a portion of the environment in an RPG is made up on the spot. The OP, as I recall, placed some importance on the amount of preparatory work a GM does. Moreover, improvised elements immediately become established elements, and character-players may not immediately (if ever) learn all the ramifications that are nonetheless established.They do not decide what those are!How, in a GM-less game, are there to be persistent and consistent elements that are nonetheless not common knowledge? In a GM-run game, there can be limited information concerning things about which information exists. In a truly GM-less game, whatever is not commonly known effectively does not exist.The Clue and Dungeon! examples show how one can to a limited extent emulate "real" (there even when you're not looking) elements -- but that is extremely limited. They cannot affect play unless a player knows of them.One could have a "multi-GM" game in which Player A is GM only to Player B, their characters being (for all practical purposes) in different "worlds." I do not think that's what is being contemplated here.Neither Battleship nor Stratego fits the common definition of an RPG, but in a sense each is about "playing the role" of a military commander. The information each player possesses or lacks is in keeping with that role.</blockquote>

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