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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5177260" data-attributes="member: 4937">They are much more analogous to the art direction, although typically art direction fits the needs of a preexisting story and typically in RPGs the story fits the needs of the preexisting 'art'.  There is a transformation that takes place between 'campaign setting' and the events of a session that (hopefully, but not inevitably) creates something with the features of a story.  That transformation can involve several steps and the creative input of more than one person.   Sometimes there is a script of some sort and sometimes there isn't a script.  And even when there is a script, its more like the script to the movie 'Clue', in which there are branching paths - only much much more so.Of course, when I say that the DM has hope that a story will emerge from the session complete with a beginning, antagonist, rising action, twist, climax and conclusion, I probably only mean what I hope.  There are probably DMs out there who would say that whatever happens is the story, regardless of whether it has a classic story form or features, and that my intention to tease a traditional story from the character's interaction with the setting requires actions on my part that are inevitably too authoritarian.Regardless, I'm not sure these analogies actually clarify anything.  Whether we label the campaign setting, 'more like art direction' or 'more like a script' doesn't really clarify what a 'campaign setting' is.  It's a statement that depends as much on knowing what a campaign setting actually is as it does on knowing what art direction and scripts are.  It doesn't seem to me that it gives you any information you don't already have, and you acceptance of the analogy entirely depends on your own opinions on what a setting is for.  It's not really an analogy: it's a proxy argument.</blockquote>

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