thread: 2009-06-22 : Secrets: the Smelly Chamberlain
On 2009-06-23, Emily wrote:
Christopher wrote:
Did you mean to say that the GM has the power to assert things about a Player's Character—to stage a coup upon the reality of the character? Can you give some examples of this, if this is what you meant?
Oh! You're right of course. And I like the example of the affair with an Iraqi woman while on tour. Yes, the GMs job is not to stage coups, but to listen and collaborate with the players to perhaps follow up with new info/secrets that support and play into what has been established.
What I was thinking of when I said that it is the GMs job to come up with things new to the players and introduce them in play is more about the world. That is a huge part of what the GM is responsible for: telling the players what their characters see around them, without asking for the players permission (well, no—they all agree that this is what the GM does). I can think of moments when GMs introduced things that happen based on a character's back story, but those seem more like your Iraqi love child example now that I think about it.
The difference there is that in many games—certainly not all—the GM giving your soldier a child isn't a coup, it would be a good play, whereas the player wouldn't necessarily have the right to do even that about about a GMs character.
