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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 9668884" data-attributes="member: 16586">In games like Apocalypse World the closest equivalent of the GM (Master of Ceremonies) is a player of the game. The chapter on how to facilitate the game is even called the playbook for the Master of Ceremonies. The way I see is that the referee role cuts against the scene framer role in a couple ways:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A scene framer needs to be actively invested in the characters. They need to be fans. Need to be curious about them. Need to want to know what adversity looks like for them and need to apply that adversary, especially when it hurts to do so.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Part of the fun of these games is that we are all experiencing them together, that when we go to the dice the tension is palpable, because no one can overrule what is about to happen.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Pure mental bandwidth. A Master of Ceremonies has enough on their plate. Adding more just increases the mental load on them and decreases quality of play as a result with no good reason.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It's hard to go against the grain of how we have trained ourselves to play. It's all too easy to fall into routines, techniques and methods that cut against our creative goals. Don't rely on discipline for more than we need to.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Authority and responsibility tend to go hand in hand. A game where so much of the creative impetus comes from the other players benefits from a sense of ownership. That the GM cannot save them from themselves or the unwelcome elements introduced by the rules.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There are good reasons for referees and storytellers to sit above the game. There really isn't a good reason for someone who is facilitating the game to sit above it. If we are trying to avoid the GM being a referee or a storyteller this arrangement of them as a player with specific responsibilities and authorities really helps maintain those creative goals.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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