Discussion · bonfire.mavnn.eu

I don't gave anything against Sly Flourish BTW... He seems eminently likeable and broadly unobjectionable, like Alan Titchmarsh in a wizard's hat.

I snipe at this class of person a lot but the reality is that I don't think they know any more or less about RPGs than any of the hundreds of middle-aged dads who go to cons and clog up the pipes on Reddit.

I guess what I am actually objecting to is the idea of expertise and social elevation. These people do not know anything more than you.

Icosacade

@[email protected] · 23 hours ago

@Taskerland I’ve said it before but if I was getting into RPGs today, I would be put off by the sheer volume of contradictory GM advice out there.

Some of it is good, some bad, but none of it is universal. With no mechanism to differentiate quality it just becomes a mess of implied authority.

S. John Ross

@[email protected] · 22 hours ago

@icosacade @Taskerland The most schizoid job I ever had was writing GMing advice for (FRED) Pulp Hero, where Steve Long _also_ wrote GMing advice.

We _flatly contradicted one another,_ but it was all edited into the same chapter, with no indication of where my bits ended and his began, and no attempt by the editor to reconcile the contradictory advice. 😂😭

Icosacade

@[email protected] · 20 hours ago

@SJohnRoss I mean, that kinda sounds like an awesome read. 😂

Michael Newton

@mavnn · 20 hours ago

@[email protected] @[email protected] It's one of the only FRED edition HERO books I didn't own, and I now regret it. I actually have a huge respect of both you and Steve Long for totally different reasons and I can't really imagine two less compatible styles of writing or philosophies on GMing (when I'm in a crunchy mood I appreciate Steve's literally lawerly clarity and precision in writing rules and even sometimes backgrounds, but I wouldn't say that I'd jump at a chance to play at his table reading between the lines of his GMing style)

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Charnock

@[email protected] · 23 hours ago

@Taskerland And probably not about Jungian character design for d20

Charnock

@[email protected] · 23 hours ago

@Taskerland I think in the case of many middle aged dads these people know far less. What I don't like is the ownership of their games people give away so readily to "Professional Advice Givers"

Kichae

@[email protected] · 20 hours ago

Charnock If people treated them as “professional advice givers,” that would be fine. Advice is something you can take or leave, based on the circumstances. It’s this pervasive attitude that they are the true adjudicators of the hobby that’s really problematic.

Shit, I don’t even see the printed content as having that status, which is why me and the PF forums don’t get along. System books are filled with “professional advice” above and beyond the core system and setting that people treat as though it is carved into stone and then painted in with blood.

Pteryx the Puzzle Secretary

@[email protected] · 18 hours ago

@kichae @Printdevil
One more reason for me to avoid the PF2 crowd. They already sounded like people to stay far away from on account of their "if it's not in the rules, you can't do it" attitude which misses a primary point of TTRPGs. (Frankly, even at the most rulesey TTRPG table, my expectation is for the attitude to be, "There isn't a rule for that? *Well, there is now.*") This makes them sound even more hidebound and creativity-hostile...

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