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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7106981" data-attributes="member: 42582">Well generally when I refer to "illusionism" I'm referring to the phenomenon described at the Forge using that terminology.I don't really understand your definition at all. By your definition, anytime a GM frames a scene so as to engage the PCs, but hasn't decided in advance at least two ways the scene will resolve, it's illusionism. Which means, for instance, that all "story now" RPGing is illusionistic, because no "story now" play involves determining outcomes in advance - the GM frames and then the players declare actions for their PCs, and until those actions are declared it doesn't make any sense to even speculate about outcomes.Indeed, the whole language of "giving a choice" assumes a degree of GM control over the game that is not consistent with the "standard narrativistic model". When RPGing in that fashion, the GM frames a scene that is thematically laden, given the manifest concerns of the PCs (and thus their players). But what the choice is made in response, and what that choice puts at stake, is up to the player. The GM doesn't "give a choice".Manbearcat's example of the brother's hat is a good one - framing that scene doesn't "give the player a choice"; it invites the player to declare some action for his PC, driven by the presence of the hat in the brothel foyer. This is made clear by Manbearcat's subsequent description of what happened, and the broader resolution system within which it took place.The GM presents the situation (= frames the scene0; the GM doesn't "give a choice". The players choose how to engage the situation, and what they want to put at stake in light of what the GM has put into play in framing the scene. They do this by declaring actions for their PCs.It is the resolution of those action declarations - which obviously aren't known by the GM in advance - which then leads to outcomes. Which, a fortiori, can't be know by the GM in advance, let alone preauthored.</blockquote>

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