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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9286871" data-attributes="member: 7006">Here's something else we should all consider about the stuff JA puts in his book-- they are instructional in nature to get newer players to think differently.  To condition themselves as they learn how to DM to not do things in a manner that seems like it would be correct and useful, but in actuality would be more effective doing it differently.  Getting new players to work those muscles they might not have even known existed, let alone work out.  But these exercises and modes of thinking can be for totally different things, and thus they might seem contradictory when taken as a whole (Don't prep plots vs 3-clues for example)... but the important thing we should all remind ourselves is that when we become more sophisticated DMs... we will have the knowledge and ability to know WHEN to break these rules.  At which point the contradictory stances no longer matter any more.  Sometimes our actions might be contradictory, and sometimes they will be in harmony-- and because we are knowledgeable about the acting of DMing, we can run our games both ways without any issues.To me, these are no different than things like the "Rules of Improv".  Everyone who takes improv classes for the first time is handed a list of things "you should never do!" when improvising, because your improv will be bad if you do.  It's a standard list that every improvisor knows about, and indeed a lot of the RPGers know about too, as those "rules" have been brought over to us as well.  For instance... a very famous rule of improv is "Do not ask questions."  Why?  Because improv relies on the creation of something out of nothing... and when you ask a question, you are forcing your scene partner to create something out of nothing, rather than you having the courtesy to create something yourself.  You are putting the burden onto them.  "Hey Bob, where we last night?"  And now they are the ones in the scene who has to come up with where you both were... rather than you making a statement of "Hey Bob, glad to see you made it out of the Taylor Swift concert in one piece last night."Makes sense, right?  Rather than forcing your scene partner to come up with something... you come up with something yourself and thus they now can react off of you.  And this is the kind of mindset we try to instill in new improvisors, because for most of them... they are so freaked out about the prospect of actually improvising (because it's scary) that they just instinctually try to keep themselves safe by not inventing something in the scene that might "screw things up."  So we tell them NOT to ask questions, and thus get them in the habit of always creating and not deferring.  And eventually after a while it becomes second-nature.But guess what?  At that moment in time... when the improvisor is completely comfortable with making statements and offers to their scene partner... they actually learn the truth.  Of course you can ask questions!  There's nothing inherently wrong with asking questions in an improv scene.  Because both of you-- you and your scene partner-- are so geared in to what you need to do to have a good improv scene that even if one of you "asks a question"... you're comfortable just answering it and moving on with your lives and the scene.  It's no longer a big deal.And this I feel is the same way towards DM advice.  "Don't prep plot"?  Heck, as a lot of people have already said... most adventure paths are entirely a long-form plot that you will be prepping for your players!  There's nothing inherently wrong with having a plot to follow.  If you are an experienced DM, you have a plot for your players to follow, but are also completely comfortable going away from the plot for a bit if something catches the table's eye.  And then after a bit, you can guide the table back into the plot.  And more often than not they won't have any difficulties or issues with it, because you know how to make that plot important enough to the wants and needs of the players that they won't have any reason NOT to want to do whatever the plot or storyline is that the adventure path has written down.  And the "3-clue rule" is one of those ways!  The party goes off on a tangent and misses clue 1... you throw down clue 2 in their path as they're doing this other thing that interested them... and quite possibly that clue 2 makes them interested enough to get back on the path you've plotted.At a certain point in our experiences, we all learn the simple truth about rules in anything-- you are an expert in a thing when you know when and how you can break the rules.</blockquote>

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