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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8937300" data-attributes="member: 42582">What I take [USER=22779]@Hussar[/USER] to be describing is a type of RPG play I've experienced. For me it was back in the 90s, and the system was AD&D, mostly 2nd ed.But I get the impression that there is (or has been) 3E and 5e play that is similar, and maybe also 4e play.What I have in mind is an approach to play where the GM has a dungeon map, and associated key, which basically provides a series of scenes to frame. The players, at the end of each scene, say which corridor their PCs go down, or which door they open, or some similar sort of action declaration related to moving the PCs through the dungeon, and as a a result of this the GM frames the appropriate new scene (as indicated by the map and key).The players are not particularly setting out to exercise control over which scenes are framed - eg they're not using a lot of divination magic, or scouting, or rumour collection, to try and learn in advance what is behind each door or down each corridor so that they can exercise control over which scene is framed by choosing where to have their PCs go in the dungeon. In this respect, therefore, the play is different from what Gygax describes in his PHB, where he emphasises the idea that players should be seeking information and doing their best to exercise control over what it is that their PCs encounter.In the sort of non-Gygaxian play that I am describing, and that I take Hussar to be describing, the players trust the GM to have put interesting stuff into the dungeon rooms, which therefore will produce interesting scenes (encounters) when they are activated.  There might be an overarching theme to some of these (eg this sequence of room is all Gnolls), maybe even extending over the whole dungeon (eg it's a series of old catacombs repurposed by Gnolls, and so we have undead in some room, Gnolls and their demonic temples in some rooms, and a few rooms that have more-or-less random odds and sods that have made their way into the dungeon, like say a Choker in one and a giant spider with its webs in another). But whatever exactly its extent and consistency, the theme is mostly for fun, maybe a bit of player-side prep (eg it's catacombs, and so there are probably undead, and so the cleric prepares Protection form Evil) and it also gives the GM a bit of guidance for how to narrate random encounters and otherwise fill in any dungeon dressing that comes up in play, but that's about it. Maybe there's also a reason why the PCs are in the dungeon - eg to retrieve a MacGuffin - but that's not really the main point of play. It's closer to a plot device or even perhaps a fig leaf to put a veneer of story logic over the fact that the real point of play is to have fun moving the characters through the dungeon from encounter to encounter.Now [USER=22779]@Hussar[/USER] can tell me if I've got the wrong impression, but this is the sort of play I take him to be describing. And in this sort of play, it is largely arbitrary or "guesswork" which way the players go and which doors they open. Because the real point of those action declarations is to activate the appropriate scene (as per the map and key), and ideally any of them will be fun for the players.</blockquote>

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