Re: (TFT) I knew this guy 3

["Steven K. Mariner" <skmwg@bhmk.com>]

Peter von Kleinsmid wrote:

> The digger is really funny. I'm half-surprised this threw many people. 

This exchange has brought to my attention an interesting lesson about 
GMing.  One I'm embarrassed to say I never quite fully understood until now.

I learned early on in my GMing days that the single most important duty 
for the GM is to facilitate everyone having fun.  But learning what 
makes it fun for others has proven to be a long (30ish years and still 
going) string of sub-lessons for me.  I never saw the big picture.

But I get it now.  It all falls under the simple concept that this is a 
role-playing game.  The players want to play roles (Duh!).  The GM's job 
is to facilitate that being a fun thing to do (which includes a lot of 
other tasks, often mistaken for the actual job of th GM).

If the guy wants to dig, he digs.  Apply game mechanics, try to remember 
all aspects of what would really happen if some guy were digging a hole 
someplace, add points of interest if you're inspired, and move on with 
the story.

It's not our job to force the players to do anything.  I've played under 
GMs who did that, and those were the most unfun, frustrating, 
want-to-quit-the-game moments in all my 30 years as a gamer.  So forcing 
him to quit digging is just another violation of that commonly-broken 
rule.

We don't dictate; we facilitate.  So if the boy wants to dig, he digs.

Thank you, David.  Your little story just took a few hundred 
painfully-learned, complex, interworking rules-of-thumb and melded them 
into one conscise whole for me.

- Steve M.
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