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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gardens &amp; Goblins" data-source="post: 7071473" data-attributes="member: 6846794">Honestly, it's a bit like the question doing the rounds in academic circles, 'What is a game?'. There's a lot of lengthy debate on the matter. But really, will knowing help us make a better game? Personally I doubt it but hey.But really, I do get the value in stepping back and attempted to analyse something, to better understand and develop the medium. And part of that is developing an agreed upon terminology so folks can have more agile conversations without having to continuously explain/express what they mean. Responvise Campaign Arbitration/Arbitrator or something then, perhaps? Master of Ceremonies will get me weirder looks among certain peers than I already get!On one hand it is simulationist, in that it attempts to present a collection of elements under the banner of 'The Campaign' which involves the DM running and maintaining a system while players engage with it - locations are set before hand, narrative elements placed for possible discovery, actions are taken and the events during play are played 'true', with no DM in-game tweaking (soft/hard plays).On the other hand, that nature of the campaign can change from one session to the next, in response to how players have engaged with system previously. Narrative elements maybe be introduced or removed, Non player characters and forces developed, areas of interest expanded upon & written up as the player's make their approach and so on. Of course, done poorly and the players will feel disconnected from one session to the next as the campaign world morphs beyond recognition. Done well though and play unfolds in response to play, reacting to their choices, their successes and their failures. Often the 'story' is what is told at the end of the session, by the players to each other, based on what just happened - which I personally greatly enjoy listening to when I DM.The closest comparison I can think of is those screen writers that write for TV series, where they take feedback from each episode or series of episodes and tweak accordingly.Reactive Episodic DMing. Macro DMing? Campaign DMing? Eh..Bob. I vote we call it 'Bob'.</blockquote>

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