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<blockquote data-quote="Aenghus" data-source="post: 6300396" data-attributes="member: 2656">Storytelling and worldbuilding are often involved in running a roleplaying game, but they aren't essential and either of them can be dialled up or down as required. An old fashioned random dungeon with pregenerated characters with no backgrounds can avoid both deliberate story and much in the way of worldbuilding. Any scenario where the PCs are locked in a limited set of locations can reduce the amount of worldbuilding called for. Limiting the PC's opportunities for social interaction limits the opportunities for story or plot. (Note I'm not advocating any of these playstyles, just saying they are both possible and I've seen concrete examples of them).Both storytelling(and fiction creation in general) and worldbuilding can be pursued as hobbies or interests in and of themselves. Storytelling tends to prioritise drama, and worldbuilding prioritises consistency. Consistency isn't an absolute though, there are facts, politics, history, geography, religions, philosophies, etc etc and few if any are experts in everything, or prioritise every factor equally.So if a RPG referee also values either or both of storytelling or worldbulding&nbsp; I think it important to realise that players can mess up both stories and worlds. I've seen a number of frustrated novelists or worldbuilders taken aback by players questioning the referee's premises, interpreting events, backstory and situations differently to the referee, doing the &quot;wrong&quot; things and messing up their nice clean world or story. Maintaining the status quo is a primary motive behind railroading and suggests the referee values his world or story more than the player's participation in the game.RPGs require enough consistency to satisfy the participants, which may not be much. I still value consistency, but am much more willing nowadays to adjust or rewrite unrevealed backstory to adapt to the game's needs.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Aenghus, post: 6300396, member: 2656"] Storytelling and worldbuilding are often involved in running a roleplaying game, but they aren't essential and either of them can be dialled up or down as required. An old fashioned random dungeon with pregenerated characters with no backgrounds can avoid both deliberate story and much in the way of worldbuilding. Any scenario where the PCs are locked in a limited set of locations can reduce the amount of worldbuilding called for. Limiting the PC's opportunities for social interaction limits the opportunities for story or plot. (Note I'm not advocating any of these playstyles, just saying they are both possible and I've seen concrete examples of them). Both storytelling(and fiction creation in general) and worldbuilding can be pursued as hobbies or interests in and of themselves. Storytelling tends to prioritise drama, and worldbuilding prioritises consistency. Consistency isn't an absolute though, there are facts, politics, history, geography, religions, philosophies, etc etc and few if any are experts in everything, or prioritise every factor equally. So if a RPG referee also values either or both of storytelling or worldbulding I think it important to realise that players can mess up both stories and worlds. I've seen a number of frustrated novelists or worldbuilders taken aback by players questioning the referee's premises, interpreting events, backstory and situations differently to the referee, doing the "wrong" things and messing up their nice clean world or story. Maintaining the status quo is a primary motive behind railroading and suggests the referee values his world or story more than the player's participation in the game. RPGs require enough consistency to satisfy the participants, which may not be much. I still value consistency, but am much more willing nowadays to adjust or rewrite unrevealed backstory to adapt to the game's needs. [/QUOTE]

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