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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9651431" data-attributes="member: 42582">This doesn't seem right to me: RPGing happens in time, by people talking to one another. So it's a feature of the medium, not a regrettable limitation, that what is said is finite and focused.So here's a point that, in my experience, comes up repeatedly in discussions about the nature and purpose of prep.Some posters - [USER=6747251]@Micah Sweet[/USER], perhaps you - treat the GM writing something up makes it, per se, a component of the fiction. Whereas to me, while writing something up is a fiction, it's not part of the shared fiction until it's shared. Its function, prior to being shared, is to serve as a type of constraint on, and prompt for, what the GM says.But until it's actually said, who can tell whether it will be colour, or conflict? Someone not too far upthread - I can't remember who - posted about having parts of the setting &quot;unfolding&quot; in their notes, behind the scenes: the PCs aren't part of this, but the GM might use it to inform narration during play. That would be an example of something the GM has prepped turning out to be colour, rather than conflict.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 9651431, member: 42582"] This doesn't seem right to me: RPGing happens in time, by people talking to one another. So it's a feature of the medium, not a regrettable limitation, that what is said is finite and focused. So here's a point that, in my experience, comes up repeatedly in discussions about the nature and purpose of prep. Some posters - [USER=6747251]@Micah Sweet[/USER], perhaps you - treat the GM writing something up makes it, per se, a component of the fiction. Whereas to me, while writing something up is a fiction, it's not part of the shared fiction until it's shared. Its function, prior to being shared, is to serve as a type of constraint on, and prompt for, what the GM says. But until it's actually said, who can tell whether it will be colour, or conflict? Someone not too far upthread - I can't remember who - posted about having parts of the setting "unfolding" in their notes, behind the scenes: the PCs aren't part of this, but the GM might use it to inform narration during play. That would be an example of something the GM has prepped turning out to be colour, rather than conflict. [/QUOTE]

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