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Message: <blockquote data-quote="thefutilist" data-source="post: 9633488" data-attributes="member: 7044566">The framing of a lot of this conversation assumes (often unintentionally) that of the GM mystery cult. The GM needs guardrails and introspection and a good system because they are the primary social and aesthetic facilitator. Given that this is one of my big criticisms of rpg culture in general, I'm surprised at myself how often I let this framing slip by.If, as you suggest, you're just transparent about the process of play then we're really talking game loops. If we're not and instead talking about how to be a good mystery cult GM, well that's a distinctly differently conversation.IF we're just talking about game loops then it seems silly to demand introspective rigour from the GM. Why not instead demand inquisitive analysis from the players?I've been doing a lot of GMless play recently and one thing that's interesting is how easy it is to talk about improving play. There's no confusion as to who has responsibility for what because it's so obviously a group endeavour. Yet as soon as a GM becomes involved, it's easy to let that dynamic slip away and take up bad social habits from the old trad days.Hope that gets across stuff more clearly and isn't a massive non sequitur. I've just been thinking a lot about this lately and especially how I could do with being more active in pointing out mystery cult thinking in my own groups.</blockquote>