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*TTRPGs General
Introducing Complications Without Forcing Players to Play the "Mother May I?" Game
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7560292" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I think you're significantly exaggerating things when you say "the session grinds to a screeching halt".</p><p></p><p>If a player writes stuff on his/her equipment list or treasure list that differs from the fiction that the GM (purports to have) narrated, the game won't grind to a halt.</p><p></p><p>If two players interact, in character, in ways that presuppose or establish a fiction that differs from the GM's, the game won't grind to a halt. I've played in a game that fitted this description and lasted for months before the GM eventually rebooted things (by transporting the PCs 100 years into the gameworld's future) - the game died not long after (unsurprisingly).</p><p></p><p>Then there can be more complicated stuff, like Vincent Baker's example of <a href="http://lumpley.com/index.php/anyway/thread/460" target="_blank">"the smelly chamberlain"</a>:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">the players get together behind the GM's back and say "hey you know the NPC Chamberlain, our contact with the king? Let's all, no matter what the GM says about him, let's all react to him as though he smells bad. We can't insult him to his face, we need him, but let's be subtle and see what the GM does with it."</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">So they do.</p><p></p><p>Baker has a long discussion of possible ways this might play out; the short version is that there's no obvious reason why the GM's understanding (ie that the Chamberlain doesn't smell) should prevail.</p><p></p><p>If the GM leaves, or is removed, maybe one of the players is ready to take up the reins! (I've had this happen in real life.)</p><p></p><p>But anyway: If A and B play chess together, and A owns the board and pieces, so that if A gets frustrated with play s/he can literally pick them up and go home, does it follow that A's mood is part of the rules of chess, or invalidates the rulebook? I don't think so. I'm making the same point about RPGing - the pertubations of social dynamics don't tell us much about what the rules of the game are, nor who is permitted or required to do what in the course of play. RPGs are no different from chess, or cricket, or any other game, in this respect.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7560292, member: 42582"] I think you're significantly exaggerating things when you say "the session grinds to a screeching halt". If a player writes stuff on his/her equipment list or treasure list that differs from the fiction that the GM (purports to have) narrated, the game won't grind to a halt. If two players interact, in character, in ways that presuppose or establish a fiction that differs from the GM's, the game won't grind to a halt. I've played in a game that fitted this description and lasted for months before the GM eventually rebooted things (by transporting the PCs 100 years into the gameworld's future) - the game died not long after (unsurprisingly). Then there can be more complicated stuff, like Vincent Baker's example of [url=http://lumpley.com/index.php/anyway/thread/460]"the smelly chamberlain"[/url]: [indent]the players get together behind the GM's back and say "hey you know the NPC Chamberlain, our contact with the king? Let's all, no matter what the GM says about him, let's all react to him as though he smells bad. We can't insult him to his face, we need him, but let's be subtle and see what the GM does with it." So they do.[/indent] Baker has a long discussion of possible ways this might play out; the short version is that there's no obvious reason why the GM's understanding (ie that the Chamberlain doesn't smell) should prevail. If the GM leaves, or is removed, maybe one of the players is ready to take up the reins! (I've had this happen in real life.) But anyway: If A and B play chess together, and A owns the board and pieces, so that if A gets frustrated with play s/he can literally pick them up and go home, does it follow that A's mood is part of the rules of chess, or invalidates the rulebook? I don't think so. I'm making the same point about RPGing - the pertubations of social dynamics don't tell us much about what the rules of the game are, nor who is permitted or required to do what in the course of play. RPGs are no different from chess, or cricket, or any other game, in this respect. [/QUOTE]
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