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<blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 5408613" data-attributes="member: 80487"><p>Giving my own answers to questions chauchou posed to pemerton and The Shaman:</p><p></p><p>(1) Exploration: The pioneering RPGs were/are games of <u>limited information</u>. That is the prime need that the GM fills, more than procedural adjudication (which can be minimized in the "rigid <em>kriegspiel</em>" model to which, e.g., WotC-D&D comes closer than old TSR-D&D).</p><p></p><p>They were/are basically games of <u>playing a role</u>, in the sense of imagining oneself in a particular situation, with a particular perspective and set of resources, and responding on that basis. There are things that a knight, a cowboy, a tank commander, a spy, a spaceman, etc., cannot perceive or otherwise does not know because of his position in the imagined world -- just as each of us has such limitations in the real world.</p><p></p><p>Bran Mak Morn lives and dies in his world, not sitting at Bob Howard's typewriter in Texas. Part of the appeal of D&D, RuneQuest, etc., was/is that one can "change the story" <u>from within</u>.</p><p></p><p>(2) Random Events: These serve several closely related purposes.</p><p></p><p>First, they are -- along with a host of other occasions for dice-rolls -- part of the basic structure of a very probabilistic game with great strategic scope. This is for instance a significant factor in considering the random factor in character generation. We expect to explore the game as a <u>sum of histories</u> rather than as a single isolated slice.</p><p></p><p>It's like playing a card game through multiple hands. The spread of probabilities gives context to what one is dealt, and playing the odds is a long-term process.</p><p></p><p>Second, they serve in a sense to keep the GM "honest" when it is their probabilities -- rather than whims -- that dictate the frequency of this or that occurrence. We human beings tend to fall into unconscious patterns that can be skewed from what we <em>think</em> we are up to.</p><p></p><p>Third, they are another contribution to the ability of the game to take turns that surprise even the GM. Such surprises greatly help (in my view) to keep the moderator's role fun rather than drudgery.</p><p></p><p>Fourth, the use of tables and dice-rolls can be a form of "brain storming" for inspiration. As The Shaman observed, they typically give but seeds that the GM must interpret and flesh out. Those seeds can be a valuable aid to creativity when one is trying to come up with one interesting variation after another (as for instance in creating a subsector for <em>Traveller</em>).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ariosto, post: 5408613, member: 80487"] Giving my own answers to questions chauchou posed to pemerton and The Shaman: (1) Exploration: The pioneering RPGs were/are games of [U]limited information[/U]. That is the prime need that the GM fills, more than procedural adjudication (which can be minimized in the "rigid [I]kriegspiel[/I]" model to which, e.g., WotC-D&D comes closer than old TSR-D&D). They were/are basically games of [U]playing a role[/U], in the sense of imagining oneself in a particular situation, with a particular perspective and set of resources, and responding on that basis. There are things that a knight, a cowboy, a tank commander, a spy, a spaceman, etc., cannot perceive or otherwise does not know because of his position in the imagined world -- just as each of us has such limitations in the real world. Bran Mak Morn lives and dies in his world, not sitting at Bob Howard's typewriter in Texas. Part of the appeal of D&D, RuneQuest, etc., was/is that one can "change the story" [U]from within[/U]. (2) Random Events: These serve several closely related purposes. First, they are -- along with a host of other occasions for dice-rolls -- part of the basic structure of a very probabilistic game with great strategic scope. This is for instance a significant factor in considering the random factor in character generation. We expect to explore the game as a [U]sum of histories[/U] rather than as a single isolated slice. It's like playing a card game through multiple hands. The spread of probabilities gives context to what one is dealt, and playing the odds is a long-term process. Second, they serve in a sense to keep the GM "honest" when it is their probabilities -- rather than whims -- that dictate the frequency of this or that occurrence. We human beings tend to fall into unconscious patterns that can be skewed from what we [I]think[/I] we are up to. Third, they are another contribution to the ability of the game to take turns that surprise even the GM. Such surprises greatly help (in my view) to keep the moderator's role fun rather than drudgery. Fourth, the use of tables and dice-rolls can be a form of "brain storming" for inspiration. As The Shaman observed, they typically give but seeds that the GM must interpret and flesh out. Those seeds can be a valuable aid to creativity when one is trying to come up with one interesting variation after another (as for instance in creating a subsector for [I]Traveller[/I]). [/QUOTE]
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