Both as a gamemaster and a player, I liike for there to be an obvious goal in mind from the start of the game. When players are free to do what they want, they usually end up doing nothing but standing around talking about their backstories or getting into meaningless fights. As a player, I want to know where I should be going, and as a gamemaster, I want to have some control over what is happening around the players. So I do prefer what Eastep refers to as a "checkpoint to checkpoint scenario."
[tyrade]
In regards to what qbsuperstar03said about fiction-based roleplays: I disagree (obviously; see my signiture). For me, the purpose of basing a game on pre-existing media is not so that you do not have to do less work coming up with ideas, but so that
your players can jump right in to a complex setting without having to read the pages of notes you posted up for them.
For example, with my "Power Rangers" RP, (WHICH YOU SHOULD ALL TOTALLY JOIN NOAW! :-D), I intitially just wanted to host a superhero game. I started to create a new superhero universe with its own rules and backstory, but it occured to me: "Is this what people will want? If, instead of making a new setting, I use an existing one, players who already are familiar with that setting won't have to sit through reading the details of my setting, deciding whether they like it or not, then ask me for details. I could just use a popular superhero universe--say, 'Power Rangers'--and people will immediately know, 'Oh, so this is Power Rangers. I know how Power Rangers works.'"
Incidentally, I take a little bit of offense to the implication that gamemasters who host fiction-based games are either uncreative or lazy. If the game is based on a long-running or complicated franchise, then a good gamemaster will have to sit down and do research on the timeline, metaphysical rules, et cetera of that setting. In preparation for my "Power Rangers" RP, (WHICH YOU SHOULD ALL TOTALLY JOIN NOAW! :-D) I sat through Linkara's "History of the Power Rangers," watched multiple episodes of each season (even
Power Rangers Mystic Force. That's the kind of sacrifice I have to make for my art!), spent time on the Power Rangers wikia, and still have to fact-check what I write to make sure it doesn't conflict with existing cannon.
[/tyrade]
Northern wrote:On a style basis, nothing gets me off more than a good fight between me and another skilled role player.
Ew, ew, ew, ew, EEEWWWW, too much information! :-0 j/k