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The Neutral Referee, Monty Haul, and the Killer DM: History of the GM and Application to 5e
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<blockquote data-quote="overgeeked" data-source="post: 8706696" data-attributes="member: 86653"><p>For a neutral referee to be possible, the system itself needs to be designed in a neutral way. 5E does not want neutral referees. It's designed for storytellers and Monty Haul DMs who are fans of the players and their characters. It's designed to prevent Killer DMs with easy access to healing, high PC hit points, death saves, easy access to resurrection, etc.</p><p></p><p>I started a bit late for the proper neutral referee days (the Hickman Revolution was already brewing), but that's how I saw games run for decades and how I've always tried to run games myself. It's simply not the job of the referee to try to force story, story structure, or drama onto a game. Whatever story is generated by game play is emergent, not forced. Forcing story requires limiting player agency and railroading. Which are bad refereeing, though it's exactly what you have to do for the GM to be a storyteller. </p><p></p><p>You mention a lot of the tools of the trade for neutral refereeing. A set world that's often procedurally generated. Random generation. Random charts. Wandering monsters. Because the referee likes to be surprised, too. But lots and lots of prep. Because without that, the world feels hollow and less real. It's not about fiat and gotchas, it's about player agency and choices actually mattering. Player agency is king. No illusion of choice. No railroading. Choices have to matter. If they turn left and go into a dragon's lair at 1st level...they turn left and go into a dragon's lair at 1st level. What they do there is entirely up to them. If they decide to charge the dragon, they charge...and the dragon reacts accordingly. The referee does not protect the players from their choices.</p><p></p><p>The referee plays the world. The PCs are not the protagonists of a story, they're "real" people who exist in a "real" place and everyone acts and reacts accordingly. You steal something in town, the guards will hunt you down and throw you in jail. Action, reaction. Cause, effect. Bad decisions, consequences. Not in the sense of the referee punishing the player or the character, but the world is a "real" place. It's not a power fantasy-land tailored to the players' dreams of glory. There is no plot armor. No guaranteed survival. If your character does something incredibly stupid, they'll likely die for it. So player skill is incredibly important.</p><p></p><p>Emergent story is the key, I think. Completely letting go of any notions of plot, story, structure, scenes, etc and also letting go of any notions of forcing outcomes. It's simply not the referee's job. Doing so robs the players of agency, which is the major sin of this style of play. If the players choose to follow some kind of dramatic structure, that's their choice. If the players choose to run from half-finished quest to half-finished quest, that's their choice, too. Forcing the game to emulate a story is not what this style is after. Letting the game play out however the players and dice decide is the whole point. If that does not result in a "satisfying" story arc...so what? Games are not stories, they're games. </p><p></p><p>Along with that is not centering the individual PCs. It's not about spotlight time or making sure everyone has a moment to shine. The PCs are not demigods with epic destinies, but they are special in the sense that they're brave (and/or stupid) enough to want to go on dangerous quests and slay monsters in search of treasure...but they're not special in that they're not the protagonists of an unfolding story with a set end and guaranteed safety until that end. The emergent story is not about any individual PC, it's about the group's play together. We as a group have fun playing a game together. Whatever happens, happens. If this PC's story ends tonight, so be it. The player made a long string of bad choices and so their character is dead. The player is free to roll up a new one and keep playing. Because it's not about that one character's story, it's about the players as a group getting together and throwing dice and having a good time playing a game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="overgeeked, post: 8706696, member: 86653"] For a neutral referee to be possible, the system itself needs to be designed in a neutral way. 5E does not want neutral referees. It's designed for storytellers and Monty Haul DMs who are fans of the players and their characters. It's designed to prevent Killer DMs with easy access to healing, high PC hit points, death saves, easy access to resurrection, etc. I started a bit late for the proper neutral referee days (the Hickman Revolution was already brewing), but that's how I saw games run for decades and how I've always tried to run games myself. It's simply not the job of the referee to try to force story, story structure, or drama onto a game. Whatever story is generated by game play is emergent, not forced. Forcing story requires limiting player agency and railroading. Which are bad refereeing, though it's exactly what you have to do for the GM to be a storyteller. You mention a lot of the tools of the trade for neutral refereeing. A set world that's often procedurally generated. Random generation. Random charts. Wandering monsters. Because the referee likes to be surprised, too. But lots and lots of prep. Because without that, the world feels hollow and less real. It's not about fiat and gotchas, it's about player agency and choices actually mattering. Player agency is king. No illusion of choice. No railroading. Choices have to matter. If they turn left and go into a dragon's lair at 1st level...they turn left and go into a dragon's lair at 1st level. What they do there is entirely up to them. If they decide to charge the dragon, they charge...and the dragon reacts accordingly. The referee does not protect the players from their choices. The referee plays the world. The PCs are not the protagonists of a story, they're "real" people who exist in a "real" place and everyone acts and reacts accordingly. You steal something in town, the guards will hunt you down and throw you in jail. Action, reaction. Cause, effect. Bad decisions, consequences. Not in the sense of the referee punishing the player or the character, but the world is a "real" place. It's not a power fantasy-land tailored to the players' dreams of glory. There is no plot armor. No guaranteed survival. If your character does something incredibly stupid, they'll likely die for it. So player skill is incredibly important. Emergent story is the key, I think. Completely letting go of any notions of plot, story, structure, scenes, etc and also letting go of any notions of forcing outcomes. It's simply not the referee's job. Doing so robs the players of agency, which is the major sin of this style of play. If the players choose to follow some kind of dramatic structure, that's their choice. If the players choose to run from half-finished quest to half-finished quest, that's their choice, too. Forcing the game to emulate a story is not what this style is after. Letting the game play out however the players and dice decide is the whole point. If that does not result in a "satisfying" story arc...so what? Games are not stories, they're games. Along with that is not centering the individual PCs. It's not about spotlight time or making sure everyone has a moment to shine. The PCs are not demigods with epic destinies, but they are special in the sense that they're brave (and/or stupid) enough to want to go on dangerous quests and slay monsters in search of treasure...but they're not special in that they're not the protagonists of an unfolding story with a set end and guaranteed safety until that end. The emergent story is not about any individual PC, it's about the group's play together. We as a group have fun playing a game together. Whatever happens, happens. If this PC's story ends tonight, so be it. The player made a long string of bad choices and so their character is dead. The player is free to roll up a new one and keep playing. Because it's not about that one character's story, it's about the players as a group getting together and throwing dice and having a good time playing a game. [/QUOTE]
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