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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
"Illusionism" and "GM force" in RPGing
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7923566" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>To add something to my reply just upthread to [USER=7016699]@prabe[/USER], which also to some extent builds on [USER=99817]@chaochou[/USER]'s remark that "a dungeon can be created and populated without need to reference force":</p><p></p><p>My own opinion, which is based on my own experience as GM and player, and on reading modules and reports of play over the years, is that <em>framing</em> is one of the most important GM skills.</p><p></p><p>Framing needs to invite the players to engage the situation. Otherwise the game becomes boring and pointless. I've experienced this as a player, sometimes been guilty of it as a GM, and heard many reports of it.</p><p></p><p>But framing which guides or manipulates towards a fore-ordained goal - like the dragon armies, and most modules I know from the 2nd ed and 3E D&D eras - tends towards suckitude, because it makes play pointless in a different way: the players have nothing to contribute. (Even their dice rolls don't matter, because the GM has to ignore or fudge or negate those outcomes to make sure the fore-ordained goal is achieved.)</p><p></p><p>Between those two pitfalls is a lot of room for manoeuvre, but I think it requires some thought and some deftness to do it well. I've been GMed by people who are pretty experienced RPGers but haven't been able to do it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7923566, member: 42582"] To add something to my reply just upthread to [USER=7016699]@prabe[/USER], which also to some extent builds on [USER=99817]@chaochou[/USER]'s remark that "a dungeon can be created and populated without need to reference force": My own opinion, which is based on my own experience as GM and player, and on reading modules and reports of play over the years, is that [I]framing[/I] is one of the most important GM skills. Framing needs to invite the players to engage the situation. Otherwise the game becomes boring and pointless. I've experienced this as a player, sometimes been guilty of it as a GM, and heard many reports of it. But framing which guides or manipulates towards a fore-ordained goal - like the dragon armies, and most modules I know from the 2nd ed and 3E D&D eras - tends towards suckitude, because it makes play pointless in a different way: the players have nothing to contribute. (Even their dice rolls don't matter, because the GM has to ignore or fudge or negate those outcomes to make sure the fore-ordained goal is achieved.) Between those two pitfalls is a lot of room for manoeuvre, but I think it requires some thought and some deftness to do it well. I've been GMed by people who are pretty experienced RPGers but haven't been able to do it. [/QUOTE]
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