Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Korgoth" data-source="post: 4717183" data-attributes="member: 49613">First, I'll illustrate what I'm talking about. I run Empire of the Petal Throne (1975) and right now the players are exploring the megadungeon beneath the city of Jakalla. On level 2, there happens to be a temple ("The Fortress of Inexorable Ruin") of the chaotic god of fire.That temple was put there as a location, just like many other locations. Now as it happens, the group contains a priest of this fire god and an enthusiastic initiate of this god as well. That was just player choice when the charactes were made. So instead of looting this temple (and this party are avid looters), they ended up getting jobs there! This was not my intention... I had not intention. I set up the world and they interact with it.Likewise, on level 2 there is a particular wizard's tomb reputed to contain a text of great power. The text is associated with a powerful and secretive god that some in the party fear. So while they had the opportunity to take a job to retrieve this text (and, incidentally, probably get cheated out of its full monetary value) they decided not to do so. The tomb is in a part of level 2 they have not explored, although there is a deep pit on level 1 that they have seen (but have not explored) that not only leads to the tomb, it bypasses its demonic guardian! Perhaps they will never go there... perhaps another party will end up going there some time.Which is to say... the game (at this stage, at least) is about the Jakalla Underworld. That underworld exists virtually and it is there for players (these players or any others) to interact with. It has a sense of reality to them... it is not just made up as we go along. There is in fact a "there" there, even if the world is just a made up fantasy on graph and notebook paper, i.e. it is virtual.Now, on GM-less games... I have tried something which was close: My Life With Master. That game does technically have a GM, but it is very much based on players narrating individual scenes. I found it a most pointless, boring and dreary experience. I have no interest in everbody just sitting there spinning a yarn. I don't care about the yarn, I don't care about Frizzit Von Durden's tortured pathos, and I don't want to hear a soliloquy.If you give me a room split by a dark, yawning crevasse then I'll decide if I want to explore it. If I do, tell me what's down there. Nothing? No bottom? Bats? Tsathoggua? A river? But don't just make it up as you go along. To me it's only a game if the content of the world is at least provisionally laid down beforehand... that's what makes my decision to ignore, avoid or delve the crevasse meaningful.</blockquote>

Verification