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<blockquote data-quote="robertsconley" data-source="post: 9668425" data-attributes="member: 13383">Let me push back a bit. I’d like to know if this would be considered a story.[ATTACH=full]406439[/ATTACH]Or this?[ATTACH=full]406440[/ATTACH]If I submitted either of these to a literature professor for a short story assignment, I’d get an F for not understanding the assignment. They contain no plot, no character arc, no narrative progression, just a description.Now, to be fair, there are stories in my material, but they are built later, as lore. For example, I take something like this:And turn it into a story laterThat is a story, a dramatized, character-driven narrative built on top of a timeline of events. It’s something I write to add color and myth to the setting, like Tolkien’s Silmarillion.Entries like this:[ATTACH=full]406441[/ATTACH]May allude to legendary events, but the location write, up itself isn’t a story. It’s a setting detail.My setting itself doesn’t tell stories. It provides descriptions, situations, histories, and ongoing developments. Some may become stories when the players interact with them, but prior to that, they are a description of a fictional place that lives only in the imagination. This isn’t just a semantic debate. It’s about what purpose this material serves in play. I’m building a world for them to act within. If a story emerges, it’s a consequence of their choices and the world’s logic responding to them.That's why I say I'm not a storyteller. I'm a setting designer and referee. What happens next? That’s what the players decide. And maybe that becomes the story.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="robertsconley, post: 9668425, member: 13383"] Let me push back a bit. I’d like to know if this would be considered a story. [ATTACH type="full" width="678px" size="1019x938"]406439[/ATTACH] Or this? [ATTACH type="full" size="1009x78"]406440[/ATTACH] If I submitted either of these to a literature professor for a short story assignment, I’d get an F for not understanding the assignment. They contain no plot, no character arc, no narrative progression, just a description. Now, to be fair, there are stories in my material, but they are built later, as lore. For example, I take something like this: And turn it into a story later That is a story, a dramatized, character-driven narrative built on top of a timeline of events. It’s something I write to add color and myth to the setting, like Tolkien’s Silmarillion. Entries like this: [ATTACH type="full" size="990x145"]406441[/ATTACH] May allude to legendary events, but the location write, up itself isn’t a story. It’s a setting detail. My setting itself doesn’t tell stories. It provides descriptions, situations, histories, and ongoing developments. Some may become stories when the players interact with them, but prior to that, they are a description of a fictional place that lives only in the imagination. This isn’t just a semantic debate. It’s about what purpose this material serves in play. I’m building a world for them to act within. If a story emerges, it’s a consequence of their choices and the world’s logic responding to them. That's why I say I'm not a storyteller. I'm a setting designer and referee. What happens next? That’s what the players decide. And maybe that becomes the story. [/QUOTE]

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