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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emberashh" data-source="post: 9343546" data-attributes="member: 7040941">No, we cannot. Unless, of course, we can be honest that we're just embracing the death of the author and own that we're disregarding any notion that they had a reason for designing in the way they did....why are you repeating my point back to me?Thats not what I'm reading. This is what I mean about why reinterpreting just isn't appropriate. The statement "the purpose of an rpg's rules is to create the unwelcome and the unwanted in the game's fiction." is not communicating the same thing as "RPG rules should be X". And this a direct quote, not something we're trying to infer from a game. If its come to a point where we have to make up explanations for why this isn't the kind of statement it is, then I cannot consider anything being said to that end to be in good faith.Its okay to may be just say thats a bad quote rather than trying to rationalize it.See above.And yes, its one line. But its the one I take issue with, because its a loaded premise and one that goes on to contribute to why rpg theory becomes this esoteric, wishy washy thing that doesn't actually do anything helpful other than keep internet arguments going.This is still disregarding why the actual humans made their decisions. If one wants to own death of the author then so be it, but one has to acknowledge thats what one is doing. And to make another analogy, imagine if I go back and start insisting something you wrote actually means this, and I disregarded any attempt for you to correct me on what you meant.Gygax and co don't have the ability to come tell us all directly why X decision was made, but that doesn't make it okay to act they just cobbled the game together like monkeys with typewriters. They didn't, no more than you did if I started reinterpreting something you said. And just to cut to the point, remember that theres a whole idea in the theory about why those decisions were made. Its literally in the topic title.GNS is bunk, but the idea of a game being built around simulating a world to some degree isn't, and that is why those mechanics exist. Random encounters don't exist because of this idea about the unwelcome; they exist because of course theres random monsters running around the dungeon.A phrase I liked from one of the posts I read was "Gygaxian Naturalism", which as I'm finding out right now, apparently is an actual thing coined to describe Gygax's methodology for worldbuilding, so go figure, there's the proof in the pudding. At this point I think most everyone here has their own idea of what that phrase even means.From my perspective, and the perspective that I observe when I leave this discussion and go look at any random example of the phrase coming up when somebody describes these games, is that the writers room as a phrase refers literally to when the game has to stop to sit and negotiate over how to proceed. Its about authoring characters lives rather than living them.Its never been about coming up with plots. Never. I honestly have no idea where that is even coming from or why.And just for the fun of it, I went and found some reddit posts that explicitly make it clear thats whats being referenced:<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/s/Oi8jRHIswD" target="_blank">1</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/s/DvFIGLvLHs" target="_blank">2</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/s/6qgEwbvrsg" target="_blank">3</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/s/yTkSxRjeDf" target="_blank">4</a><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/bladesinthedark/s/1gPcCI4He3" target="_blank">This ones on the BITD subreddit; not a single person there tried to say the game wasn't doing this. Most who spoke to it made it clear it was intentional.</a><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/RPGdesign/s/MoshnCbnIO" target="_blank">And heres a tangentially related one I feel compelled to share because this poster is my spirit animal.</a>Haven't found a single one yet that talks like its about plotting, so I still don't know where its coming from.</blockquote>

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