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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sebastrd" data-source="post: 7326133" data-attributes="member: 21473">You're so cute, Pemerton, with your deliberately obtuse shtick. Clearly, if I have a ball and let you play with it - relinquish control, in other words - its no longer my ball.I will admit, for the sake of argument, that any GM who declares ownership over the campaign is overstepping. However, I think it's perfectly reasonable for a GM to declare ownership over the campaign setting. Many of us put a LOT of effort into developing our campaign settings to include NPCs, geography, situations, maps, motivations, etc. Most players put proportionally less work into the game; they roll up their characters, perhaps include a backstory, and show up with some dice. GMing a simulated living, breathing world in which the players can explore and adventure involves a ton of work. Personally, I spend about the same amount of time developing an adventure as the players spend playing through it. I think I've earned the right to have substantially more say over what exists or can feasibly happen in the setting I created.I'll also admit that most GMs seem way too possessive about their settings and NPCs. It's immensely important to understand that the setting exists primarily as a vehicle for the players to reach their goals - to be heroes. The villains' primary function is to oppose the players but ultimately fail. The entire campaign world should be a challenge for the players to overcome - assuming they play intelligently, work together, and roll well when it counts. Failure should be an option for them, as well, or their victories will feel hollow.D&D may have its roots in wargames and mazes full of monsters, traps, and loot; but it has evolved far beyond those. I consider TTRPGs primarily a mechanism for shared storytelling, because that's the one aspect of a TTRPG that cannot be replicated in a book or videogame. Someone has to develop the shared world in which that storytelling takes place, and it usually falls to the GM to do so.In professional wrestling terms, I view my role as GM as similar to a jobber. My role is to sell the players' moves and amp up the excitement but ultimately lose the match. I'm fine with that role. However, in return, I retain a certain degree of control over the campaign world. It's an arrangement that always works for me and my my table.</blockquote>

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