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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8639630" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>While I agree with both you and [USER=7026617]@Thomas Shey[/USER] at one level, I also think it isn't at all that simple. The GM is very much armed with secret backstory, and the ability and often desire to come up with certain specific answers. Those answers quite often can be surprising to the players! I mean, this is where the classic 'dungeon crawl' formula worked its magic. The GM was boxed into a highly restricted space. Sure, he could invent a new trap where none was before or something, but that was clearly demarked as being not within the skilled play agenda of a game like B/X. Once you get outside that sort of 'box' the whole structure Thomas is proposing largely breaks down. In 'town' there can be all sorts of secret plots, unknown NPCs, and just such a wide range of possibilities that there's no real judging. This is exceptionally true when the game opens up into other sorts of challenges like if there is social conflict, etc. I don't care how much common sense you have, etc. the imagined game world is just not filled with all the 1000's of possible details that would even guide use of that. Regardless of what the GM says happens, it can be justified, and the only question then is who decided what the fiction would be and how?</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8639630, member: 82106"] While I agree with both you and [USER=7026617]@Thomas Shey[/USER] at one level, I also think it isn't at all that simple. The GM is very much armed with secret backstory, and the ability and often desire to come up with certain specific answers. Those answers quite often can be surprising to the players! I mean, this is where the classic 'dungeon crawl' formula worked its magic. The GM was boxed into a highly restricted space. Sure, he could invent a new trap where none was before or something, but that was clearly demarked as being not within the skilled play agenda of a game like B/X. Once you get outside that sort of 'box' the whole structure Thomas is proposing largely breaks down. In 'town' there can be all sorts of secret plots, unknown NPCs, and just such a wide range of possibilities that there's no real judging. This is exceptionally true when the game opens up into other sorts of challenges like if there is social conflict, etc. I don't care how much common sense you have, etc. the imagined game world is just not filled with all the 1000's of possible details that would even guide use of that. Regardless of what the GM says happens, it can be justified, and the only question then is who decided what the fiction would be and how? [/QUOTE]

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