thread: 2014-07-23 : The Trouble with RPGs
On 2014-07-23, Andy wrote:
Here's an interesting followup on Burning Wheel: in the Adventure Burner, Luke talks about the centrality of Beliefs to the players' role. That the role of the GM is to present challenges to those Beliefs, in an attempt to get them to yield...or else to get the player to double down on them.
So if the player's object is to win what you believe, the GM's object is to make sure that's what you really believe, by trying to make you give up on it.
This makes VB go "right on."
In many RPGs, the GM's object is complementary to, not identical or opposed to, the other players'.
This makes JDC go "Good summary"
I also see a similar distinction in toolkit games like GURPS - the GM's object is to assemble a campaign, including coming up with a viable object for the other players.
