Ep.15: Blank Page or Blueprint

Jamie and Scott dig into how we’re all wired to find creativity in different ways. This is a critical part of the process. Not only are we talking about how structure drives us all differently but communicating those expectations at the table. We circle back to some ideas we referenced early on and begin our exploration of OSR ideas and GNS.

For more on the discussion of System and Style check out James' article series, Rules in Practice and Scott’s additional thoughts on specific systems on our YouTube channel.

Topics discussed:

00:00 - Intro

03:54 - Structure vs tyranny of the blank page

05:55 - Fiction First

07:15 - the Social Contract. Matt Colville, Language Not Rules

11:15 - Game Design with Luke Crane & Thor Olavsrud

12:00 - GNS

13:45 - Save the Cat

14:40 - Structure generating creativity vs. restricting creativity

16:40 - Investment in story vs characters

17:35 - Kishōtenketsu

20:25 - Player agendas

21:20 - Verisimilitude in RPGs

25:35 - the fruitful void

25:25 - GM responsibility to contextualize

27:00 - Torchbearer

30:15 - Consequences to feed narrative

31:50 - Play by vibe

34:14 - Relationship of character to story

36:50 - What players bring to the table

42:45 - Not everybody is a creative writer

46:00 - Real life experience + playing well in a rpg

51:45 - LitRPG