A Few Thoughts...

[KeithBVaughn]

To the Group,

The premise of the "What does a Gamer Need," caused me to do some asking of further questions and I came up with some questions that led to a more focused look at what I'm putting into the game I have written.

To wit, a list:

What does a Player need?  A good referee.

What does a Referee need? (This half question was changed to a more useful question.)

What does a Referee need to be good?

 * Enthusiasum--Inspiration from the writing and artwork
 * Tools for Adventure Building (General Philosophies, Story structure...)
 * Intuitive rules for covering situations missed (not ignored) by the writer
 * Time savers for Assembling Adventures: Step-by-step charts for encounter building, forms to collect and keep information for easy access.
 * an organized book/manuscript to find information with ease.

I don't have all the answers to this question yet but I think the right question is the first part of the answer.  I further asked what had to be provided by each of the tiers of gaming--sans commercial consideration.

The Writer must provide:
 * a clear set of rules
 * a background that can be adventured in
 * a flavor or theme to guide the making of adventures

The Referee must provide:
 * a specific adventure and encounters

The Players must provide:
 * characters and a spirit to adventure

These are just a few random thoughts I though would be useful to the other game writers here.  I'd welcome any further discussion or more ideas.

KBVaughn

[John Kim]

The Writer must provide:
 * a clear set of rules
 * a background that can be adventured in
 * a flavor or theme to guide the making of adventures

The Referee must provide:
 * a specific adventure and encounters

The Players must provide:
 * characters and a spirit to adventure

Well, that's how many games have historically been done, but none of these are strictly requirements.  Some games leave the background up to the the GM and players.  Some games are scenario-based, providing characters and/or adventures.  Some games give players a role in creating encounters and adventures.  Some games leave much of the game decision-making vague and in the hands of the GM.  

Now, a common attitude seems to be that it's OK and indeed expected to force the participants to create their own Characters and Situations -- but it is bad design to force them to create System.  i.e. The System should be unambiguous and complete coming out of the designer, but all other elements of play can be left up to the participants.  That's a decent approach, but I should point out that it's just an assumption and isn't inherently true.

[Mike Holmes]

Now, a common attitude seems to be that it's OK and indeed expected to force the participants to create their own Characters and Situations -- but it is bad design to force them to create System.  i.e. The System should be unambiguous and complete coming out of the designer, but all other elements of play can be left up to the participants.  That's a decent approach, but I should point out that it's just an assumption and isn't inherently true.

Actually, I'd point out that no system covers every contingency (or very few odd ones). That is, almost every system, leaves some system to be created here or there. What I think the imperative for a designer is to decide what needs to be enumerated, and what should be left to the players. Some will argue that more or less stuff needs to be ruled by system, but I think that's going to be a matter for each design, and no generality will cover it.

Indeed, freeform is often system invented wholly on the fly, and it's a valid form of play.

That said, the real question is what, other than system can the GM provide? Well, actually, as discussed recently, the system can actually provide characters. It can even provide situation and "adventures." And hopefully it motivates players somehow. But, these, just like background, are optional. Instead, many systems provide a method for producing these things. And some don't even do that.

The one element that can't be dropped from an RPG is system. Without a system, a background is considered, at best, supplemental. It is the system that it the core component of all RPGs as products. Everything else is gravy.

Mike

[Latigo]

What does a Referee need to be good?
* Time savers for Assembling Adventures: Step-by-step charts for encounter building, forms to collect and keep information for easy access.

This was one area where the last print version of Space Gamer / Fantasy Gamer magazine did a great job with their "quick & dirty" tables and their free-form rpg scenario generators.  You could generate scenes or whole adventures on the fly with the charts ("Players need to do X, if suceed, go to Y, if not, go to Z) and keep things rolling along without any real planning, just a general theme or idea for the evening.

Best,

Latigo