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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7482456" data-attributes="member: 42582">This is arbitrary stipulation.Google gives me, as a definition of prepare, &quot;make (something) ready for use&quot;. To prepare is to get ready. When I'm playing the game I'm not getting ready. I'm playing the game. Spontaneously deciding, in my game on Sunday, that Sir Eobald is &quot;Sir Eobald the Blue&quot; is not preparing. It's playing the game - on that occasion, narrating the situation to the players.To equate preparation or setting up with things done in advance isn't getting hung up - it's simply paying regard to the meaning of the words.And the real issue here, besides usage, is the one I've mentioned several times already: to frame establishing the fiction as &quot;prep&quot; rather than &quot;play&quot; is to frame it as an input into play rathter than a result of the back-and-forth of play. That is true of some approaches to RPGing, but not all of them.EDIT:This is a &quot;gray area&quot; and &quot;bizarre&quot; only because you're imposing your own framework of &quot;prep&quot; vs &quot;play&quot; onto it.But there's actually nothing bizarre about the play of a RPG generating some new bit of fiction. It's pretty normal.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7482456, member: 42582"] This is arbitrary stipulation. Google gives me, as a definition of [I]prepare[/I], "make (something) ready for use". To prepare is to get ready. When I'm playing the game I'm not getting ready. I'm playing the game. Spontaneously deciding, in my game on Sunday, that Sir Eobald is "Sir Eobald the Blue" is not preparing. It's playing the game - on that occasion, narrating the situation to the players. To equate [I]preparation[/I] or [I]setting up[/I] with [I]things done in advance[/I] isn't getting hung up - it's simply paying regard to the meaning of the words. And the real issue here, besides usage, is the one I've mentioned several times already: to frame establishing the fiction as "prep" rather than "play" is to frame it as an input into play rathter than a result of the back-and-forth of play. That is true of some approaches to RPGing, but not all of them. EDIT: This is a "gray area" and "bizarre" only because you're imposing your own framework of "prep" vs "play" onto it. But there's actually nothing bizarre about the play of a RPG generating some new bit of fiction. It's pretty normal. [/QUOTE]

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