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<blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 8247630" data-attributes="member: 16586">I am of the mind that we cannot really know what is minor or what is essential prior to actually playing the game. A significant chunk of any session involves a lot of structural play and setup. Some amount of authoring needs to happen if we are going to have as rich an experience as possible. I generally want to get to the point where as little of that is happening as possible (including from the GM). If we lean solely on the GM for it than it becomes demonstrably harder to get to that point. In the midst of actually playing the game I would prefer the GM be able to be as focused as possible on playing the world with integrity.I am generally not a minimalist when it comes to prep, either as a player or a GM. I probably spend 5-10 hours a week on prep as a GM if I'm really into the game I am running and about an hour or two as a player. It looks different depending on the game and might have more details pinned down in something like Exalted than something like Blades, but if I'm passionate about the game I am running or playing in I cannot help myself.In most of the games I run and play in these days there is a substantial slice of life component. We place a lot of emphasis on character's families, friends, mentors, lovers, et. al. My vampire character has an estranged wife, coworkers (still works as a security consultant), clan ties, a driver, a couple apartments, a handler from Mossad, etc. He lives a full life. Getting to that level of depth and sense of history requires a lot of work / authorship. I find it best if players have a hand in helping create the things and people their characters would value because it feels a lot more natural than &quot;Let me tell you about your brother.&quot; to me.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Campbell, post: 8247630, member: 16586"] I am of the mind that we cannot really know what is minor or what is essential prior to actually playing the game. A significant chunk of any session involves a lot of structural play and setup. Some amount of authoring needs to happen if we are going to have as rich an experience as possible. I generally want to get to the point where as little of that is happening as possible (including from the GM). If we lean solely on the GM for it than it becomes demonstrably harder to get to that point. In the midst of actually playing the game I would prefer the GM be able to be as focused as possible on playing the world with integrity. I am generally not a minimalist when it comes to prep, either as a player or a GM. I probably spend 5-10 hours a week on prep as a GM if I'm really into the game I am running and about an hour or two as a player. It looks different depending on the game and might have more details pinned down in something like Exalted than something like Blades, but if I'm passionate about the game I am running or playing in I cannot help myself. In most of the games I run and play in these days there is a substantial slice of life component. We place a lot of emphasis on character's families, friends, mentors, lovers, et. al. My vampire character has an estranged wife, coworkers (still works as a security consultant), clan ties, a driver, a couple apartments, a handler from Mossad, etc. He lives a full life. Getting to that level of depth and sense of history requires a lot of work / authorship. I find it best if players have a hand in helping create the things and people their characters would value because it feels a lot more natural than "Let me tell you about your brother." to me. [/QUOTE]

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