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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6096856" data-attributes="member: 42582">In the <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?334823-quot-A-World-Worth-Saving-quot-Chris-Perkins-on-NPCs-and-GMing-style" target="_blank">"World Worth Saving"</a> thread, the topic of player and GM responsibilities came up - who should be responsible for what, if the game is going to be fun for all involved?Anyway, I mentioned that the Burning Wheel rulebook tackles this head on, and   [MENTION=6688858]Libramarian[/MENTION] thought it might be interesting. So here goes (from Burning Wheel revised, pp 265-69):Concept, Concept, Concept When setting up a Burning Wheel game, the GM and the players come to an agreement about what this story/scenario is going to be all about. . . Get this game concept out in the open right off. Sometimes, players will just have a concept for a character he wants to play. . . Pay attention to them. . . Once the concept for the game is determined, pick and choose elements from the overall game that are appropriate . . .  Toss out any skills, weapons, spells, etc that are inappropriate to your concept. Save them for another game. . . Once the concept is agreed upon, the GM's job is to set the lifepath limits and overall power level of the player characters . . . If the concept calls for twinked out munchkin power, then it is the GM's job to set the upper and lower limits of player characters. . . The GM should set the time of the Resources Cycle. . . Setting this cycle most definitely influences the time patterns of the story to be. . . Setting the cycle at a year means characters are going to need a lot of time to have their goals and desires met [because much game time will have to pass to earn money]. There'll be a lot of "season pass" narration. . . If there are Faithful characters [clerics and paladins, in D&D terms] in the group, the GM and those players must decide upon the idiom of their faiths, whether it affects all creatures or just the believers, and any religious strictures placed on the characters. . . Tying in Relationships GM's: Don't let players buy useless relationships that won't have a bearing on the game. . . With his view of the big picture, the Gm can and should advise players aboiut which relationships are useful and which aren't. . . Tying in Beliefs, Instincts and Traits If the game is about taking revenge on the wizards who tortured and scarred you, characters better damn well have Beliefs and Instincts that scream anger, hatred and vengeance (or even forgivenss, for extra drama). . . Focus those Beliefs. Charge them. Prime them. Set them to blow. Make your character's life hard. Make it complex, entangled and difficult. Sure you could sit outside the story, be safe and watch, but what the hell fun is that? This is your game. Own it, live it, bleed it. Instinct should be set to get you in all kinds of trouble. . . If a GM is creating situations whre the Instinct alarm bells aren't going off, he's not doing his job. Lastly, there's traits. With traits, a player is paying points to say, "my character is this." The other players and the GM better damn wel include scenes and situations where those traits are prominent. . . . Role of the GM . . . * To make sure the mechanics of the game run smoothly, make sense and gel with the story/actual play at hand. * To get across my point/vision/idea (also known as the theme of the game). * To challenge and engage the players. * And to make sure that, whether the game is humorous or dramatic, everyone is involved and enjoys themselves. In Burning Wheel, it is the GM's job to interpret all the various intents of the players' actions and mesh them into a cohesive whole that fits within the context of the game. He's got to make sure that all the player wackiness abides by the rules. When it doesn't, he must guide wayward players gently back into the fold. Often this requires negotiating an action or intent until both player and GM are satisfied that if fits both within the concept and mood of the game. Also, the GM is in a unique position. He can see the big picture - what the players are doing, as well as what the opposition is up to and plans to do. . . More than any other player, the GM controls the flow and pacing of the game. He has the power to begin and end scenes, to present challenges and instigate conflicts. It's a heady responsibility but utterly worthwhile. Most important, the GM is responsible for introducing complications to the story and consequences for the players' choices. . . Role of the Players Finally, there is the sacred and most holy role of the players. In Burning Wheel games, players have a number of duties: * Prime among them is the responsibility to offer hooks to their GM and the other players in the form of Beliefs, Instincts and Traits. * Use the lifepaths to build skeletons of your characters' background, but don't fill in all the details. Let the character develop as play advances - certainly don't write a history in which all the adventure has already happened. * Players in Burning Wheel must use their characters to drive the story forward - to resolve conflicts and create new ones. Players are supposed to push and risk their characters, so the grow and change in unforeseen ways. * Use the mechanics! Players are expected to call for a Duel of Wits . . . or to demand the Rnage and Cover rules in a shooting match with a Dark Elf assassin. Don't wait for the GM to invoke a rule - invoke the damn thing yourself and get the story moving! * Participate. . . It doesn't matter if you "win", so long as the story spins in a new and interesting direction. If the story doesn't interest you, it's your job to create interesting situations and involve yourself. If a player's desires and priorities are disruptive for the group as a whole, then it's that player's job to excuse himself from the game and find another group. Above all, have fun. . . Listen to the other players, riff off them; take their leads and run with them. . . Don't forget to call your GM. Start ranting like a mad imp! Or if you are the GM (like me) hopefully you're frothing at the mouth right now (like I am [with a mad imp icon in the margin], bellowing "Hell yeah!"Opinions/responses?I think that's a pretty clear description of what participants' jobs are. It's also an allocation of responsibilities that I like.Because I'm GMing 4e rather than BW, the systems for sending signals and hooks are a bit different - rather than Beliefs, Instincts and Traits, for instance, it's class, role, race, paragon path etc, plus more informal flags the players run up. And I think overall my game is probably less intense than the sort of game Luke Crane is pushing for in his rulebook. But the emphasis on collective responsibility to push the game forward, on using the mechanics to drive the story, on theme, situation and character rather than setting - all that works pretty well for me.</blockquote>

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