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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 9687285" data-attributes="member: 87792">I just thought I'd clarify some of this. We have two different modes of Game Mastering being discussed here. The Trad Simulationist and the Neo-Simulationist. Or to put things another way a (trad) DM and a PbtA MC.The DM created their dungeon. They set everything in there by their design and they (in theory) know everything that is there. (Actual purity for anything is rare and if they'd actually set and modelled everything in there they wouldn't have wandering monster tables the way the older games had them). This is what is normally understood by simulationism.Meanwhile the neo-simulationist MC is playing to see what happens. They have the first and most important voice at the table - but the other players do in terms of what they investigate, and the rules are also highly opinionated rather than passive observers. The MC knows probably more than any player about what is going on, but they are exploring things with the other players. And if it hasn't been stated at the table it's not canon.And in neo-simulationism everyone has the ability to add to the fiction with the understanding that they build on whatever is already there. The MC is a lot more restricted than the DM - but also the opinionated rules are encouraging them to actively use that power to often expand on details in many, many ways.And a big thing that makes a world rich and vibrant is that there are so many people and so many of them have ideas. A trad simulationist DM means there is one person with light input from the rules who created the parts of the world that you can interact with (and possibly the setting has beautiful matte paintings and backgrounds you're green screening against in the setting book). Meanwhile a neo-simulationist DM has the vibrant input of probably four players and an opinionated ruleset has a nice interesting chaotic world that feels, at least to me, more real and as if everything might hold a secret even if the matte paintings and backdrops aren't as pretty.</blockquote>

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