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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GoodKingJayIII" data-source="post: 2654251" data-attributes="member: 13804">Pulled from Crothian's thread on good GMing.  Was going to reply there, but it got a little off topic.I highlighted this part of FU's statement because I see the sentiment expressed fairly often, but I'm unsure of its meaning.  Maybe that's because everyone here on the boards already knows what ForceUser is referring to, so I'm sorry if I'm asking an obvious question.  What is the negative of refering to the GM as the "novelist"?  Does it refer to a plot that is completely predetermined and the GM does everything in his power to keep the story on track (i.e., heavy railroading)?  Is it because the term could exclude players as storytellers?  Is it willful ignorance of the rules in favor of plot?  Is it more than these things?  All of them?I ask because the term is disparaged, and yet I think we all as GMs start out as novelists.  When prepping you really have no idea how players will react to a situation.  The more diligent of us will plan out likely avenues down which their PCs might diverge.  But sometimes it just makes sense to write the main avenue and expect your players to grab the bait.  Plotting a story is very difficult; planning one with multiple lines of plot with variations on outcome and timeline is incredibly hard.  I know there are some very smart people on these boards, but I venture that most of us (myself included) have a very specific battleplan in terms of plot.  I think railroading is inevitable.  The real question is this:  did I railroad too much, and was I conspicious about it?I have played under what I consider to be a novelist DM.  There were times when I was really frustrated because I felt like I had no real choices in terms of where my PC could go.  His knowledge of the rules could've been better, he led us by our noses from time to time, but he had a real flare for storytelling and great NPC personalities.  I learned a lot from him, and I would play under him again if given the opportunity.  Obviously his style is not my style; if I tried to do exactly what he did, I would not do so well.  What's worked for me in the past is to create a metaplot for the first adventure (which may last 3 to 4 sessions).  Afterwards, if I've done my job right, there are four or five plot seeds that my players can follow.  They can follow them if they like.  Sometimes there may be a plot point I've created that I didn't even realize was important.  They follow it and I try and work from there.I'd just llike to understand the "GM as novelist" term:  what exactly it is and how to prevent from doing it.  We're all storytellers to a degree, and I think it would be very easy for any one of us to get caught up in what we create.  How do we avoid that and let the players be storytellers as well?</blockquote>

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