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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6405514" data-attributes="member: 42582">I game with friends. Overwhelmingly I am the GM.Because the players are my friends, I take it for granted that they are not trying to wreck the experience when they come up with ideas for mechanical builds, PC backstory, campaign backstory etc. Because I am their friend, I do my best to integrate these ideas into the game. When, based on my familiarity with the mechanics, I think a particular mechanical option might be broken I say so up-front and we talk it through.My players know, too, that I will pick up on their backstory and run with it, not always in a direction they would expect or that suits their PCs' immediate purposes. Because I am their friend, they trust me to do this in a sensitive, well-intentioned manner. Once or twice I think I've misjudged, but because we're friends we work through it, or around it, or politely ignore it, and the game goes on.I really enjoy RPGing with my friends, but I don't think it pushes in any particuar direction as to which person at the table should have authority over various aspects of the game. To me, that is about the type of play experience you want. I don't want a game where the players are &quot;along for my (ie the GM's) ride&quot;, and that has nothing to do with whether or not the players are my friends. (Though, because they are my friends, it's probably easier to work together to get the sort of game we can all enjoy.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6405514, member: 42582"] I game with friends. Overwhelmingly I am the GM. Because the players are my friends, I take it for granted that they are not trying to wreck the experience when they come up with ideas for mechanical builds, PC backstory, campaign backstory etc. Because I am their friend, I do my best to integrate these ideas into the game. When, based on my familiarity with the mechanics, I think a particular mechanical option might be broken I say so up-front and we talk it through. My players know, too, that I will pick up on their backstory and run with it, not always in a direction they would expect or that suits their PCs' immediate purposes. Because I am their friend, they trust me to do this in a sensitive, well-intentioned manner. Once or twice I think I've misjudged, but because we're friends we work through it, or around it, or politely ignore it, and the game goes on. I really enjoy RPGing with my friends, but I don't think it pushes in any particuar direction as to which person at the table should have authority over various aspects of the game. To me, that is about the type of play experience you want. I don't want a game where the players are "along for my (ie the GM's) ride", and that has nothing to do with whether or not the players are my friends. (Though, because they are my friends, it's probably easier to work together to get the sort of game we can all enjoy.) [/QUOTE]

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