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The unique gift that RPGs can give, the thing that no other medium is capable of to its degree, is that the players can dwell in a world of cause & effect, free from any imposed plot or scripts.
The habit started, I believe, with most of the old D&D modules. Escaping it is hard, but certainly worth it.
The goal is for the players to feel immersed in theSecondary World as real people. The primary tool is by playing in a simulationist fashion, but how do we accomplish that?
It’s not by being buried in charts and Wiki pages, butprimarily using our most powerful tool: Informed common sense, the power of Intuitive GMing.
The secondary title is a play on Dr. Iain McGilchrist’s powerful book, ‘The Master & His Emissary’.
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300245929/the-master-and-his-emissary/
"There's no wrong way to play RPGs," is a common retort against all RPG discourse about methods, mechanics, etc.. I decided to briefly shine some light on these confusions, & the fallaciousness of the undergirding dynamics generating such assertions.
I examine the issue of GMs sometimes transcending cause/effect (mechanics or sometimes purely logic) in the game (aka, ‘fudging’). What motivates it? Numerous things, but while I believe their intentions are generally good (“help the players’ enjoyment”), it’s at best a Pyrrhic victory, one which can not only destroy your sessions going forward, but retroactively as well.
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