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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4718722" data-attributes="member: 80487">If improvisation were in itself such a rare ability as to be impressive, then it might not make so much sense to make it a prerequisite for all participants (as in a GM-less game).What might be impressive is accomplishing the "maintain a world" goal without any notes. It depends on how rich in relevant particulars the world is. A dungeon has a lot of details simply in the map. Making it up entirely off-the-cuff is not maintaining, even in a GM-less game. Suddenly relocating Seattle to Australia usually doesn't make the cut.The choice of going in one direction or another is not a real choice (and certainly cannot be an informed one) if it makes no difference because the GM makes up the consequences after the fact.Many details are of such little importance, so unlikely even to come up in the game, that they can be lumped in the necessary category of not worth predetermining. Does this goblin prefer ham or mutton? Exactly how many nails are part of that piece of furniture's construction? What is the name of each one of the 165,253 inhabitants of Zanzibar?Probabilities are handy. Is there an interesting encounter on the way back to town from the dungeon? If so, then with what? A key point is that the probabilities are set before rolling the dice. A lot of things in life are matters of degree: the difference between night and day, for instance. I was taking pains in that paragraph to avoid absolutes. I'm interested in dealing with actual experiences, not mere semantic quibbles.Words can have different meanings to different people. I explicitly stated from the first that I was referring to the kind of RPG I like. That doesn't keep you from calling any darned thing you please an RPG, but you can have some idea of whether you're raising misleading expectations.  Labeling Madonna simultaneously as "cool jazz" and "rock 'n' roll" is not going to convince me that her work is jazz or rock.There is no shortage of opportunities to get worked up over such things. It's probably a waste of energy when the whole foundation of one's emotional attachment to a term comes from the old-timers' definition. That's a one-way street: they don't have to accept your definition to keep their own. It's untenable to claim that Gary Gygax's game was not D&D, or that it was not an RPG. So, making "validation" of your new usage dependent on everyone else agreeing is an attempt at linguistic imperialism that can only weaken your position.Anyway, we're talking about games -- not the Nicene Creed!</blockquote>

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