On Mon, 4 Jun 2001, The White Crow wrote: > I guess my feeling is that when it becomes a caricature, focus has been > lost. I understand (not from personal experience, but from many 'net and convention discussions) that "lack of focus" is a "game-killer" in many GMs' eyes. Perhaps I simply take my gaming less "seriously" in that I don't feel that my few gaming hours are sacrosanct to "gaming, and gaming only, no side-conversation, no off-topic discussions," like many with whom I have conversed. Since I use issues personal to my players in the games, as well as the usual run of in-jokes and the occasional "What If?" sequence, I mostly find the occasional silliness refreshing. It's fun (to me) to see, say, Dr. Gizmo running through an unusual silly sequence with one of his new toys. It provides the group with a little in-character silly reference that we'll probably refer to again and again. > I think that the question wouldn't come up unless it is being > disruptive. Now, I will fully admit that there is probably an "acceptable silliness" range. [Heck, some of my PCs have legends they've acquired in non-game canon sequences...] So, I will acknowledge that there is a difference... I see the question then to be more about disruption than silliness. Honestly, I have had experiences where the disruption was a "heavy mood" in a light-hearted game. In that case, I maintain my suggestion, amending it mostly to finding out what the underlying cause is... and if it's dissatisfaction, what is reasonable to do about it. > > The big question then is what to do when the answer is, "We're not > > happy with the game." > Then you figure out how to make people happy...or you play something else. That goes into the area of group consensus of where the responsibility falls... and since that's idiosyncratic from group to group I won't say anything except that the above is not how it would work in my gaming group(s). \\ Mb \\ mabarry@xpert.net ---------------------------------------------------------------- GMAST Home Page: http://www.phoenyx.net/gmast/
