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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 7071385" data-attributes="member: 16586">Awesome stuff  [MENTION=6846794]Gardens & Goblins[/MENTION]!What to call it? This is harder than it seems because it wasn't like designed alongside in particular game. Prior to this set of approaches being formalized in Apocalypse World there really was no name for it. The response a lot of people gave, including John Harper, designer of Blades in the Dark, when Apocalypse World came out was - Isn't that just how you GM? For the groups that independently discovered these techniques it was just how you like play a roleplaying game. I tend to refer to it as either GM as Master of Ceremonies for what Vincent Baker named it as when he showed people how to do it in Apocalypse World. He did not really invent it, but Whitewolf did not really invent GM as Storyteller either. Sometimes Principled GMing for the set of principles that informs GM decision making and its relation to Principled Freeform which is just people roleplaying with some formalized stuff about how they treat characters, resolve disputes, and reach consensus. Thing is it really is a specific set of principles that show a way to GM - not the way to GM or the set of principles. Some people call it Fiction First Gaming or Play To Find Out, but those things describe just some of the features. I mean as long as we can communicate this stuff it does not really matter. John Harper just calls it GMing in Blades in the Dark, then shows you the hows and whys. He changes some stuff as well, drawing in a bit more war gaming and scene framing techniques. The formalized techniques being out there for new GMs is what really matters. Actually showing people how to play and not leaving them grasping in the dark is what I care about. This fusion of experienced narrative, character driven play, and playing in the fiction, not for it, that lets the GM be a player too and experience the tension of the narrative experience was a revelation for me. With a bit of discipline, minimal prep, and commitment to following the fiction I could get all the same kicks I do from playing in a good game. I could approach the other players as a creative equal. That's what really matters to me.</blockquote>

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