Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Worlds of Design: Improvising the Adventure
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Jaeger" data-source="post: 8660984" data-attributes="member: 27996"><p>I don't get that at all. Those tables are a GM aid; To be used at certain points when following the dungeon and wilderness play procedures. i.e. Wandering monster rolls and other dice tables are not rolled on without context, and the GM is to use situational judgement when interpreting their results.</p><p></p><p>Using your definitions - RPG play has always been a combination of a Situational set-up, + GM Improvisation.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This only holds if Improve is done in isolation. RPG play is always a combination of Situational + GM Improv.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Active players is the default for RPG play.</p><p></p><p>You can get away with a passive player or so in a group of otherwise active players. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>RPG play to be truly engaging and dynamic there must be visceral in-game consequences for the PC's.</p><p></p><p>RPG's are derivative of wargames. The possibility of loss and failure are intrinsic to playing the game.</p><p></p><p>Those are good things.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>RPGs are not Movies, novels, or comics. They are their own unique game media.</p><p></p><p><em>In my opinion</em>: Trying to impose the dramatic structure of those media on a gaming session is counter productive to the goals of the RPG play paradigm; which is to maximize player agency of the PC's within the game setting. </p><p></p><p>When I was a much younger GM, I did my share of "storytelling" i.e. railroading PC's because of what I thought would make for a cool "game" session. To my everlasting shame.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, I was able to identify that defect in my GM skills early on, and dedicate myself to eliminating it.</p><p></p><p>Making my games entirely <em>(By the definitions given in the OP)</em> Situational + Improv, with maximum player agency (with further situations emerging from PC actions within the game world).. My GM abilities have gotten much better; maximizing both player and GM engagement during the game session.</p><p></p><p>Divesting myself of the "GM as a Storyteller" conceit is the best thing I ever did to improve as a GM.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>^This^ The creation of situation play + GM improv is what makes RPG's great.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately many early RPG's took this stuff as a common knowledge, and never explicitly laid it out in their rule books. This lack of practical 'how-to' for first time GM's is still a failing of most RPG's to this day!</p><p></p><p>I had to learn this stuff independently myself. But Everything is all the better for it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jaeger, post: 8660984, member: 27996"] I don't get that at all. Those tables are a GM aid; To be used at certain points when following the dungeon and wilderness play procedures. i.e. Wandering monster rolls and other dice tables are not rolled on without context, and the GM is to use situational judgement when interpreting their results. Using your definitions - RPG play has always been a combination of a Situational set-up, + GM Improvisation. This only holds if Improve is done in isolation. RPG play is always a combination of Situational + GM Improv. Active players is the default for RPG play. You can get away with a passive player or so in a group of otherwise active players. RPG play to be truly engaging and dynamic there must be visceral in-game consequences for the PC's. RPG's are derivative of wargames. The possibility of loss and failure are intrinsic to playing the game. Those are good things. RPGs are not Movies, novels, or comics. They are their own unique game media. [I]In my opinion[/I]: Trying to impose the dramatic structure of those media on a gaming session is counter productive to the goals of the RPG play paradigm; which is to maximize player agency of the PC's within the game setting. When I was a much younger GM, I did my share of "storytelling" i.e. railroading PC's because of what I thought would make for a cool "game" session. To my everlasting shame. Fortunately, I was able to identify that defect in my GM skills early on, and dedicate myself to eliminating it. Making my games entirely [I](By the definitions given in the OP)[/I] Situational + Improv, with maximum player agency (with further situations emerging from PC actions within the game world).. My GM abilities have gotten much better; maximizing both player and GM engagement during the game session. Divesting myself of the "GM as a Storyteller" conceit is the best thing I ever did to improve as a GM. ^This^ The creation of situation play + GM improv is what makes RPG's great. Unfortunately many early RPG's took this stuff as a common knowledge, and never explicitly laid it out in their rule books. This lack of practical 'how-to' for first time GM's is still a failing of most RPG's to this day! I had to learn this stuff independently myself. But Everything is all the better for it. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Worlds of Design: Improvising the Adventure
Top