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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 9011861" data-attributes="member: 82106">Why do we even need to hypothesize about that? I'm running Dungeon World, what rulings am I empowered to make? I know of none. The closest there is to an edge case is a custom move, but it is still bound to all the existing rules as strictly as anything else. The table still decides if my decision to make it apply is appropriate or not.So, given the above, then if I approach your question, I am not sure what you mean by 'becomes a player'. Surely someone fills a role of GM in most RPGs, and the position surely cannot be vacant. So I think what you mean is &quot;what if they are constrained to simply play by the rules?&quot; We can see that there are features of PbtA's design pattern which make this work. All actions are dealt with using a single procedure which is unambiguously applied. Said application must conform to strict constraints, and that application is generally subject to a call for consensus to confirm/reject it. GMs have a lot of power, but it doesn't arise from power over rules, it arises from having wide latitude in scene framing, consequence introduction, and their own prep (these vary from game to game somewhat). I mean, certainly it is possible to hack a PbtA and create new rules, and I guess you could reasonably say that something like a danger/monster is a sort of 'ruling' (IE orcs are defined as doing N damage, and a GM might consistently apply X damage every time you fall into a fire). but in terms of GMs having a 'ruling power', not really. I mean, if the players think that Fredegar the Great falling into the fire is a fatal situation, I'm pretty sure Fredegar is toast...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 9011861, member: 82106"] Why do we even need to hypothesize about that? I'm running Dungeon World, what rulings am I empowered to make? I know of none. The closest there is to an edge case is a custom move, but it is still bound to all the existing rules as strictly as anything else. The table still decides if my decision to make it apply is appropriate or not. So, given the above, then if I approach your question, I am not sure what you mean by 'becomes a player'. Surely someone fills a role of GM in most RPGs, and the position surely cannot be vacant. So I think what you mean is "what if they are constrained to simply play by the rules?" We can see that there are features of PbtA's design pattern which make this work. All actions are dealt with using a single procedure which is unambiguously applied. Said application must conform to strict constraints, and that application is generally subject to a call for consensus to confirm/reject it. GMs have a lot of power, but it doesn't arise from power over rules, it arises from having wide latitude in scene framing, consequence introduction, and their own prep (these vary from game to game somewhat). I mean, certainly it is possible to hack a PbtA and create new rules, and I guess you could reasonably say that something like a danger/monster is a sort of 'ruling' (IE orcs are defined as doing N damage, and a GM might consistently apply X damage every time you fall into a fire). but in terms of GMs having a 'ruling power', not really. I mean, if the players think that Fredegar the Great falling into the fire is a fatal situation, I'm pretty sure Fredegar is toast... [/QUOTE]

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