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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 9043130" data-attributes="member: 85555">I would say trust is huge here, much more so than expertise (at least for me as a player). I have been in Rob's games and the reason I enjoy them, and the reason the world he presents feels real, and the reason you feel like you are really there, comes down to how he thinks about the role of the GM, how he behaves as a GM towards the players and that he strives for a consistent world. He is also one of the more knowledgeable GMs I have met on real world subjects, but what this conversation misses is this isn't about creating a 100% true simulation of reality, it about creating a lifelike world the players can inhabit. In terms of expertise on the Middle Ages, that is obviously going to be tricky as the middle ages cover an enormous expanse of time, over vast geographic and cultural regions and our understanding of it is constantly changing. The key thing for me is consistency not expertise. I did take a number of medieval history courses in college, certainly not an expert, but the medieval world Rob presented, obviously shaped to certain D&D-ilke fantasy conceits, was highly navigable. He put considerable thought and weight into institutions. Were they accurate to what a scholar might want? I don't recall, but to me that wasn't the point. The point was having institutions that felt real, made sense, and operated in ways consistent enough that you try to function within them as a player. Having it based on real history also helped because that gave it added depth and made it recognizable. So where the interpersonal relationships thing became useful was our characters had a role inside those institutions, and those were connected to things like our family relationships. It all felt very plausible, immersive and like we had deeper connections to the setting that enabled a better scenario to unfold</blockquote>

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