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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7323741" data-attributes="member: 42582">These are extremely different things.A model railroad is a physical artefact. I can &quot;explore&quot; it by looking at it, noticing the intricacies of the track network, seeing if there are configurations of signals and vehicle movements that will engender collisions, etc.But a fantasy or sci-fi story is not a physical artefact (the book itself is, obviously, but the story is not the book - it's the abstract object &quot;encoded&quot; by the words which are physically expressed by the type in the book). And I can't &quot;explore&quot; it other than by reading it, or having it read to me.In RPGing, the players don't (generally) just sit down and read a book (be it a novel, or a fictional encyclopedia) written by the GM. There is a back-and-forth of conversation, and at certain points the GM tells the players stuff about the setting. In many games, some of that stuff is read by the GM from notes (or recited from memory; that difference isn't important at present, I don't think).Also, in many circumstances, when the players canvass or declare actions for their PCs, the GM will adjudicate by reference to those same notes&nbsp; - eg &quot;We go to the shop to ask that guy we met there yesterday&quot; &quot;Sorry, when you get there you see the shop has been burned down&quot; - the GM doesn't decied the shop has been burned down as an outcome of the action resolution (eg the player failed a &quot;Talk to contact in shop&quot; test) but rather has notes that say that, on such-and-such a day, or triggered by such-and-such an event, the shop will burn down. That is an example of the GM using the fiction that s/he has prepared in advance to determine the outcome of a player action declaration.In classic D&amp;D, where the fiction in quetion is the dungeon map and key, these sorts of events give the players the information they need to help solve the puzzle (&quot;I look behind the tapestry to see if there is a secret door there&quot; - the GM consults notes, reples (with no check) &quot;No, there's not&quot;). But what do they do in non-puzzle solving play? Or in play in which the &quot;puzzle&quot; is not, in practical terms, solvable by the players.(For more on that last point, see my reply just upthread to [MENTION=6688277]Sadras[/MENTION].)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7323741, member: 42582"] These are extremely different things. A model railroad is a physical artefact. I can "explore" it by looking at it, noticing the intricacies of the track network, seeing if there are configurations of signals and vehicle movements that will engender collisions, etc. But a fantasy or sci-fi story is not a physical artefact (the book itself is, obviously, but the story is not the book - it's the abstract object "encoded" by the words which are physically expressed by the type in the book). And I can't "explore" it other than by reading it, or having it read to me. In RPGing, the players don't (generally) just sit down and read a book (be it a novel, or a fictional encyclopedia) written by the GM. There is a back-and-forth of conversation, and at certain points the GM tells the players stuff about the setting. In many games, some of that stuff is read by the GM from notes (or recited from memory; that difference isn't important at present, I don't think). Also, in many circumstances, when the players canvass or declare actions for their PCs, the GM will adjudicate by reference to those same notes - eg "We go to the shop to ask that guy we met there yesterday" "Sorry, when you get there you see the shop has been burned down" - the GM doesn't decied the shop has been burned down as an outcome of the action resolution (eg the player failed a "Talk to contact in shop" test) but rather has notes that say that, on such-and-such a day, or triggered by such-and-such an event, the shop will burn down. That is an example of the GM using the fiction that s/he has prepared in advance to determine the outcome of a player action declaration. In classic D&D, where the fiction in quetion is the dungeon map and key, these sorts of events give the players the information they need to help solve the puzzle ("I look behind the tapestry to see if there is a secret door there" - the GM consults notes, reples (with no check) "No, there's not"). But what do they do in non-puzzle solving play? Or in play in which the "puzzle" is not, in practical terms, solvable by the players. (For more on that last point, see my reply just upthread to [MENTION=6688277]Sadras[/MENTION].) [/QUOTE]

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