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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 8108594" data-attributes="member: 70468">This is going to be an “out-there” analogy, so just roll with me for a moment.I practice <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done" target="_blank">GTD</a>. When I first met my wife, she commented about how I was capturing everything I might want to do. She saw that as my constraining myself. How could I live in the moment if I had a list of all my to-dos? I told her I do it for exactly the opposite reason. By having that list, I can make an intentioned decision about what I am doing. Many times, what I do isn’t even on that list, but because I have it there, I can trust that it will surface important things when they are important. I can e.g., go visit someone for a week and never be worried that I forgot something at work.That’s how I view having a good framework in a game. That’s why I call it empowering rather than constraining. Because of that framework, I can fit improvised actions into the game’s action economy and have things key off of them where it makes sense. Because I can reason about the game, I can tweak things with an understanding of the implications.For example, if you want to let people use a skill action in a way that’s not written, just let them do it at a −2 penalty. A skill feat at best (or worst, depending on one’s perspective) will let you just do it, so you haven’t stepped on any of the game’s niche-protection toes. If it seems extra hard, allow it at a −4 penalty instead. No, that’s not RAW, but the game’s framework allows me to conclude that should be a pretty fair approach.Writing is hard, and technical writing is extra hard. Well-written technical writing should make it clear what the GM’s role is and how the GM should use the tools in the game to adjudicate it. I would actually offer Apocalypse World as an example of strong technical writing. The tone is very casual, but it’s very exact in what you should be doing and how you use the system.</blockquote>

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