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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
What Do You Think Of As "Modern TTRPG Mechanics"?
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<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 9775617" data-attributes="member: 6785785"><p>I don’t think that all GM side procedures constitute GM fiat. Sure, a GM could always ignore the expected procedures by exercising fiat… but I’m talking about when they follow the expected procedures. And I’m thinking of versions of D&D prior to 2e AD&D.</p><p></p><p>So when the players decide to spend time searching a room thoroughly, time passes, and the GM then rolls for a random encounter. That’s not fiat… that’s a GM following the rules, and the rules dictating results. Those results drive play. </p><p></p><p>When playing map and key type dungeon crawling, the GM may populate the map however he chooses… but once populated, the rules tell us what happens. The players declare actions and the GM consults the rules to see what happens. Yes, there may be times when fiat is called for… but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as pervasive as you’re claiming. </p><p></p><p>This is because early editions of D&D called for far more discipline on the part of the GM. They were not meant to just decide what happens (though plenty of people certainly played this way). They were meant to follow the established procedures. </p><p></p><p>Then 2e kind of ditched a lot of that, encouraging the GM to simply decide what happens next, using rules only when desired. This allowed the GM to craft a long form story for their campaign, a la Dragonlance. </p><p></p><p>And I think this was one of the major contributors to the RPG movements of the early 2000s, including both the Forge-based games as well as the OSR. There’s significant overlap in the goals of these movements… and a lot of it can be summed up as demanding more principled GMing. Not making decisions by fiat, but rather by letting the mechanics dictate outcomes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 9775617, member: 6785785"] I don’t think that all GM side procedures constitute GM fiat. Sure, a GM could always ignore the expected procedures by exercising fiat… but I’m talking about when they follow the expected procedures. And I’m thinking of versions of D&D prior to 2e AD&D. So when the players decide to spend time searching a room thoroughly, time passes, and the GM then rolls for a random encounter. That’s not fiat… that’s a GM following the rules, and the rules dictating results. Those results drive play. When playing map and key type dungeon crawling, the GM may populate the map however he chooses… but once populated, the rules tell us what happens. The players declare actions and the GM consults the rules to see what happens. Yes, there may be times when fiat is called for… but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as pervasive as you’re claiming. This is because early editions of D&D called for far more discipline on the part of the GM. They were not meant to just decide what happens (though plenty of people certainly played this way). They were meant to follow the established procedures. Then 2e kind of ditched a lot of that, encouraging the GM to simply decide what happens next, using rules only when desired. This allowed the GM to craft a long form story for their campaign, a la Dragonlance. And I think this was one of the major contributors to the RPG movements of the early 2000s, including both the Forge-based games as well as the OSR. There’s significant overlap in the goals of these movements… and a lot of it can be summed up as demanding more principled GMing. Not making decisions by fiat, but rather by letting the mechanics dictate outcomes. [/QUOTE]
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What Do You Think Of As "Modern TTRPG Mechanics"?
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