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When a rule is clear but leads to illogical efffects
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7021844" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Sports generally do not have a position that corresponds to an RPG Game Master. The GM wears lots of hats. He's the secret keeper, world builder, antagonist, and chorus of the story. He's granted virtually unlimited authority over the game. So among the hats he has to wear is "referee". He's the final arbiter of rules disputes and the final judge and interpreter of every single player proposition. It's essential in any game style that he be perceived as someone who is always fair and reasonable, and never abusive of his authority. The rules of the game help give the player some sense of what to expect from the game, and a feeling of control in that the player has the expectation that if he makes certain propositions, that he'll be validated as having a certain amount of authority over the scenario as provided by the rules. That is, he can propose to move this far in a round, or cast a spell that has this exact effect, and so forth.</p><p></p><p>A player understands that his attempted move may be interrupted by his falling into a pit trap, but he has a reasonable expectation that the pit trap didn't suddenly come into existence because the DM wanted to interrupt his move, or that the unseen pit trap won't morph. And he has a reasonable expectation that he will be given the normal chance to avoid such a trap, whatever it happens to be and that if he fails at some task, it won't be because the DM favors his girlfriend's PC or his put NPC's over him.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Increasingly when I hear you say "YMMV", I'm interpreting it as "badwrongfun". For example, it's not at all the case that the DM's neutrality is predicated on turning the RPG in to a tactical wargame. Trust is not an issue that only effects tables that have gamist or competitive aesthetics of play. Asserting otherwise is pretty transparently condescension toward game style, regardless of how much "YMMV" you put at the end of your messages. I hear you about how superhigh trust your game is and you never have any of these problems and so no one ever expects to the GM to be a fair and neutral arbiter, and they just trust them to perform their art, but none of that clarifies to someone who might not be as experienced as you what that art is or how to reach that state of superhigh trust at a table.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7021844, member: 4937"] Sports generally do not have a position that corresponds to an RPG Game Master. The GM wears lots of hats. He's the secret keeper, world builder, antagonist, and chorus of the story. He's granted virtually unlimited authority over the game. So among the hats he has to wear is "referee". He's the final arbiter of rules disputes and the final judge and interpreter of every single player proposition. It's essential in any game style that he be perceived as someone who is always fair and reasonable, and never abusive of his authority. The rules of the game help give the player some sense of what to expect from the game, and a feeling of control in that the player has the expectation that if he makes certain propositions, that he'll be validated as having a certain amount of authority over the scenario as provided by the rules. That is, he can propose to move this far in a round, or cast a spell that has this exact effect, and so forth. A player understands that his attempted move may be interrupted by his falling into a pit trap, but he has a reasonable expectation that the pit trap didn't suddenly come into existence because the DM wanted to interrupt his move, or that the unseen pit trap won't morph. And he has a reasonable expectation that he will be given the normal chance to avoid such a trap, whatever it happens to be and that if he fails at some task, it won't be because the DM favors his girlfriend's PC or his put NPC's over him. Increasingly when I hear you say "YMMV", I'm interpreting it as "badwrongfun". For example, it's not at all the case that the DM's neutrality is predicated on turning the RPG in to a tactical wargame. Trust is not an issue that only effects tables that have gamist or competitive aesthetics of play. Asserting otherwise is pretty transparently condescension toward game style, regardless of how much "YMMV" you put at the end of your messages. I hear you about how superhigh trust your game is and you never have any of these problems and so no one ever expects to the GM to be a fair and neutral arbiter, and they just trust them to perform their art, but none of that clarifies to someone who might not be as experienced as you what that art is or how to reach that state of superhigh trust at a table. [/QUOTE]
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