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<blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 6120842" data-attributes="member: 3192">Published or otherwise what makes a great adventure is when we the players play awesomely in it. Now the material in the game can lack understanding of what makes games good, which usually is a mark of a poor game scenario, but the adventure itself can be awesome because of what we do with it. Plus, a good referee can actually fix a lousy adventure before converting it to the game rules and then implementing it into play. It depends on how good that person actually is with understanding well designed game material though. That ability doesn't necessarily make them a good Referee, but the skills overlap a good bit.How can that be? Well, think of how folks can be remarkably good at playing games, but aren't necessarily good at designing them. You don't have to be a Chess Master to design a good game nor is a great game designer even only very good at playing ...but as I said, a lot of the same skills come up. Specifically for a Referee of a D&amp;D game it's similar, though it isn't about one's playing ability, but their refereeing ability. As D&amp;D is really a puzzle game the difference here is in how capable the person is at relating the puzzle behind the screen and operating as the players attempt and create changes. Clarifying with the players is key, so is being objective and making solid judgment calls about the puzzle itself. However, just because the Referee holds the hidden blueprints of the puzzle doesn't mean he or she may actually know the different solutions to it. That's actually what the players are mastering - not the game's design, but it's operation. Anyways, being a good D&amp;D ref usually means being able to design and run games well. Again, there's a good bit of cross over.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="howandwhy99, post: 6120842, member: 3192"] Published or otherwise what makes a great adventure is when we the players play awesomely in it. Now the material in the game can lack understanding of what makes games good, which usually is a mark of a poor game scenario, but the adventure itself can be awesome because of what we do with it. Plus, a good referee can actually fix a lousy adventure before converting it to the game rules and then implementing it into play. It depends on how good that person actually is with understanding well designed game material though. That ability doesn't necessarily make them a good Referee, but the skills overlap a good bit. How can that be? Well, think of how folks can be remarkably good at playing games, but aren't necessarily good at designing them. You don't have to be a Chess Master to design a good game nor is a great game designer even only very good at playing ...but as I said, a lot of the same skills come up. Specifically for a Referee of a D&D game it's similar, though it isn't about one's playing ability, but their refereeing ability. As D&D is really a puzzle game the difference here is in how capable the person is at relating the puzzle behind the screen and operating as the players attempt and create changes. Clarifying with the players is key, so is being objective and making solid judgment calls about the puzzle itself. However, just because the Referee holds the hidden blueprints of the puzzle doesn't mean he or she may actually know the different solutions to it. That's actually what the players are mastering - not the game's design, but it's operation. Anyways, being a good D&D ref usually means being able to design and run games well. Again, there's a good bit of cross over. [/QUOTE]

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