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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 2983816" data-attributes="member: 158">Here are my thoughts on the tenets listed:Tenet #2The individual campaign is an interpretative extension of the game it is based on, aimed at activity by a small group.In recent years, the focus has fallen off of "the game" and more on "the campaign." With theh advent of Generic rules sets, e.g d20, Fudge, Fuzion, True 20, Grim Tales, etc. People will often take the toolkit they prefer to run the game they desire; they'll even switch out rules sets to play the same game if they feel that it's not doing what it should. So one D&D game these days will be RADICALLY different from another one, compared to 25 years ago.Tenet #3The creative interpretation of a campaign must remain within the scope and spirit of the game.To a small degree, yes -- there aren't too many people using Shadowrun to play D&D-style dungeon crawls, for instance. (Except Clueless in one-shots. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />) However, the "scope and spirit" of games are wider than they used to be. Originally, you'd play Boot Hill for your Westerns, Gamma World for your goofy sci-fi, Traveller for your "hard" sci-fi; now, you'd play modified d20 Modern, or Spycraft, or similar, for all of them.Tenet #4The campaign is constantly undergoing modification through game master and player interaction.This is the way it should be, or a game gets stagnant and starts bleeding players. Keep it dynamic, and odds are that they'll get upset when a game meeting gets cancelled. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />Tenet #5The role of game master is that of an active neutral with duty first to the campaign, then the group, and then the game.So in essence, Gary is agreeing with all of us here in that thread asking "Is the DM facilitiator or adversary?" by saying "adversarial facilitator." <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Gary's always been a proponent of "entertainment through challenge." It can be fun to bash orcs, but flexing your mental muscles can be fun, too, often after the fact, especially when you succeed after a few failures. There were people who played D&D back in those heady days, had a character die once, then quit, but how many of those players came right back for more? The challenge of keeping PCs alive bred dedicated hobbyists who kept the desire for the game alive in good times and bad alike; I wonder if the game would have fared as more than a footnote had it been a total lack of challenge? Tenet #6The game master serves best when he enables players to participate actively to their fullest.No arguments here.Tenet #7Total mastery of a game system is desirable for game master and players alike.And no arguments from me, also. The more players and GMs know about the games their playing, the smoother they run, plain and simple. I also encourage all the players in our groups to get at least one turn behind the GM screen, as well -- it teaches you so much about being a good gamer, and improves your skill at both playing and GM'ing.</blockquote>

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