Pundit-Notes From The Great Forge Reunion Battle of 2015: Addendum 1: Who Runs the Game?

Pundit-Notes From the Great Forge Reunion Battle of 2015

Wherein Ron Edwards Complained That People Still Remembered "Brain Damage", and Were Still mad at him for it;
and Wherein Ron Edwards Tried to Take Credit for the OSR

Addendum 1

Additional Thoughts After The Battle

or

Who's The Boss of The Game?

Fundamentally, your RPG table is going to be run by one of these three:

1.A self-styled genius game designer who probably lives thousands of miles away from anyone at the table and has never met any of them.

2. 4-6 players who are meant by very definition of the player's role to put themselves first; though factually if you say "the players are in charge" then what will really happen is "the one player who is most loud and/or manipulative will be in charge and will make the game about his personal satisfaction".

3.  the GM.

1 and 2 are never the right answer. It has to be 3; and so the alternative to having a "bad GM" can't be to use the system in order to hamstring/neuter the GM.  The real solution is just the 'free market': the fact that players can and should leave behind bad GMs.  You can only fix the 'bad GM' problem by walking away.
RULES CAN'T DO IT.

And the only contribution to a solution RPG books, social media, or forums can do to solve the problem/risk of "bad GMs" is to train better GMs.  Not by giving them rules and restrictions, but by doing what books like Amber Diceless did: show them how to master their art, how to establish emulation effectively, how to deal better with problem players, and how to use their ABSOLUTE authority responsibly.

RPGPundit

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