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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9032397" data-attributes="member: 42582">To add to others' answers to this: in future sessions of play, the material that has been established in previous sessions of play contributes to framing. As [USER=82106]@AbdulAlhazred[/USER] said, that might mean - for instance - is that part of the framing is that the PC is trapped in a prison cell with no physical way out (no secret doors, no bendable bars, etc). Which will, in turn, constrain action declarations and consequence narration.What does that look like? I mean, if the GM is following the rules of the game - framing when appropriate, narrating consequences when appropriate, etc then as [USER=7027139]@loverdrive[/USER] posted it doesn't matter one bit where they are taking their ideas from (loverdrive identified some colourful possibilities: "from her mind, from her ass, her notes, the module, a random table, or from heavens above on a clay tablet. . . . from an erotic chatbot, cellular automata designed to simulate post-apocalyptic wasteland, or sms from Vincent Baker himself").Conversely, if the GM narrates a consequence that breaches the rules of the game (eg in DW/AW, makes a hard move when the rules don't permit it; in Burning Wheel says "no" without calling for a roll of the dice), then it is obvious to everyone at the table what is happening, and now the situation is no different from any other game where one participant is breaking the rules: there can be a discussion about it, everyone can storm off in a huff, whatever seems best in that social context!But there is no prospect of play that appears to be no myth but secretly is not.What RPGs do you have in mind? In AW/DW there's no such thing as making the difficulty high or low. In Classic Traveller (an example I referenced above), there is a reaction table with rules for establishing modifiers. In Burning Wheel, there are rules of establishing the obstacles faced. In MHRP/Cortex+ Heroic, the GM is constrained by the Doom Pool. Etc.The idea of setting difficulties so high as to be de facto saying "no" is somewhat distinct to some approaches to D&D (and perhaps some similar systems), I think.Only in the sense that the GM is expected to say things that are interesting to the players, and that speak to the dramatic needs they have established for their PCs. As [USER=7027139]@loverdrive[/USER] posted, this is "pretty much the same as on a player in any other RPG", who is expected to create and play a PC whose dramatic needs are established by the GM in virtue of the GM's scenario and setting design.Hence why framing it as a matter of "service" seems to me unhelpful. The real difference is, Who is establishing what play will be about?</blockquote>

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