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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Haltherrion" data-source="post: 5609332" data-attributes="member: 18253">As a referee have you ever gone through phases? Fundamental shifts in your game style? I think I'm on the cusp of one now. We'll see if it sticks but based on the demands of family and work I've made the decision (mid-campaign even) to move from a style of play that depends on heavy pre-game prep, is more "serious" and story driven to a more sandbox style. I don't mean to imply the two are synomous; I just want both less hard core gaming and a more player driven game. The recent change has prompted a look back over my ref'ing career and I see several phases or "eras":<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">My initial junior high to early high school phase where I was discovering RPGs, anything went in terms of setting and mixed genre and while I was never true "Monty Haulish" I could be very liberal.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Late high school through early post college where I went "serious": no mixed genres, deep, developed settings, in-character for PCs at all times but very sandboxish with little direction from me and a wide open world to explore. In many ways I was trying to simulate a fantasy world.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Post college, where I moved to heavily story driven when I realized I could not get my game group together very often and my sandbox games seemed to be languishing due to lack of momentum, partly because of the less frequent play (the first two phases were characterized by game play at least once a week and often daily in high school; yes call me a geek).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Now I find myself moving back to a sandboxish open world, not because I don't like or know how to drive a story but because I don't have the out of game time to put it all together. (And for me, strong story takes prep time; I can't ad lib strong story). But I also think that with a few more decades of play under my belt, I can handle sandbox with less frequent play.</li> </ul>So, do you look back at eras or phases in your ref'ing style? And a second question I will preface with a caveat: I'm not looking to start a flame war and see merit for both sandbox and story-driven campaigns. I don't see "sandbox" or "story-driven" as perjorative. So, for those of you who have done both sandbox and story driven, what has made you move between the two poles or points in between?</blockquote>

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