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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 8010599" data-attributes="member: 16586">What makes a game feel realm, what makes it tangible - something we can feel and touch, depends a lot on how we see the world. For me having a character who lives a full life with meaningful roots in the community, existing relationships they can depend on, and the ability to develop a sense of mastery over their environment are what make a game tangible.When I run a game I see myself as a Master of Ceremonies, a facilitator that enables meaningful play. I make the game feel real by helping players to develop connections to the setting through their characters. Since I have a limited amount of time I focus on the details that are directly relevant to their characters as much as I can tell. That means I do a good amount of just in time establishing of fictional details.I consider that a better deal than the opposite where a lot of effort is spent on details that are not relevant to the lives of the characters we are playing. I have often in more modern D&D felt like something of a space alien. I have no idea where anything is, no meaningful connections, and am constantly a fish out of water. The more constrained sandboxes designed for play seen in OSR games feel far more real to me than the Forgotten Realms or some massive home brew setting.Roleplaying games are subjective aesthetic experiences. What works for one group of people might not work for another.</blockquote>