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RPGing and imagination: a fundamental point
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<blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 9197908" data-attributes="member: 70468"><p>I don’t think the intent of OD&D was to be a complete text. From what I understand, the wargaming culture of the time left a lot up to the referee. You see that kind of play today in FKR games that likewise trust the referee to handle a lot of things “modern” games might codify in rules text.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The issue seems more with delegating how to perform the role to communal knowledge. Some games (with Apocalypse World being a prominent example) are quite explicit about how to perform the role. If MCs do what AW tells them to do, a functional AW game should result. Unfortunately, that clashes with the dominant play culture where GMing is expected to be a learned skill rather than a role prescribed by the game.</p><p></p><p>Aside from that, things are a bit better today with actual plays and shows like Critical Role, but I otherwise agree games should do more to communicate how to perform the GM role.</p><p></p><p></p><p>It’s not quite that neat because OD&D marked the start of something new. It took time for people to find the language to describe it. I believe Jon Peterson explores this in <em>The Elusive Shift.</em></p><p></p><p></p><p>I don’t find this line of thinking very compelling. It doesn’t follow that being old or not reflecting the majority play culture of today means a game is less of an RPG.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Just a hybrid of that or a hybrid of those things and other things? What I’m trying to reconcile is the lumping together of Skyrim with D&D. There is a base “RPG-ness” that some games have, and then other things are added to it (such as playing-style reinforcement, improvised play, etc).</p><p></p><p>However, I’m not sure how useful such a base definition of “RPG” would be in this context. The OP appears to be using “RPG” as a shorthand for “tabletop RPG”. If tabletop RPGs are typified by improvised play, then the fact that non-tabletop RPGs are not doesn’t seem germane.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="kenada, post: 9197908, member: 70468"] I don’t think the intent of OD&D was to be a complete text. From what I understand, the wargaming culture of the time left a lot up to the referee. You see that kind of play today in FKR games that likewise trust the referee to handle a lot of things “modern” games might codify in rules text. The issue seems more with delegating how to perform the role to communal knowledge. Some games (with Apocalypse World being a prominent example) are quite explicit about how to perform the role. If MCs do what AW tells them to do, a functional AW game should result. Unfortunately, that clashes with the dominant play culture where GMing is expected to be a learned skill rather than a role prescribed by the game. Aside from that, things are a bit better today with actual plays and shows like Critical Role, but I otherwise agree games should do more to communicate how to perform the GM role. It’s not quite that neat because OD&D marked the start of something new. It took time for people to find the language to describe it. I believe Jon Peterson explores this in [I]The Elusive Shift.[/I] I don’t find this line of thinking very compelling. It doesn’t follow that being old or not reflecting the majority play culture of today means a game is less of an RPG. Just a hybrid of that or a hybrid of those things and other things? What I’m trying to reconcile is the lumping together of Skyrim with D&D. There is a base “RPG-ness” that some games have, and then other things are added to it (such as playing-style reinforcement, improvised play, etc). However, I’m not sure how useful such a base definition of “RPG” would be in this context. The OP appears to be using “RPG” as a shorthand for “tabletop RPG”. If tabletop RPGs are typified by improvised play, then the fact that non-tabletop RPGs are not doesn’t seem germane. [/QUOTE]
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