RPG Theory Glossary: A
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- Abashed
- Within Ron Edwards' GNS theory, a game design with features of multiple GNS modes that are contradictory -- but which are easily correctable by ignoring or altering isolated portions of the rules (minor Drift). For example, the GM fudges a bit or rules are conveniently ignored in favor of the flow of play, and things work fine. Considered a minor form of Incoherence.
References:
Abashed Vanillaism
Ron Edwards' review of Little Fears
- Actor Stance
- Originally part of Kevin Hardwick's Narrative Stance Model , later adopted by Ron Edwards as just Stance. The original term meant conscious portrayal of character, as opposed to In-Character Stance which meant acting as character. Ron Edwards' Actor Stance means deciding on the character's decisions and actions using only knowledge and perceptions that the character would have -- but not necessarily speaking in-character or immersing (see Immersion).
- assumption clash
- Generally, when participants have different understandings of how the game-world works that come out in play. For example, as a player you might think that your tough fighter can kill a charging boar with his sword with little fear of injury, while your GM thinks that a boar can easily ignore any sword swing and will break both his legs. You say "I crouch and prepare to meet its rush" and get severely mauled. A term from rgfa discussion.
- Author Stance
- Originally part of Kevin Hardwick's Narrative Stance Model, where is was also known as "Director" stance. It implies playing with a eye towards changing the game or affecting its development on a metagame level. In Ron Edwards' adaptation of Stance, these were split into separate stances. Author Stance includes only only controlling of the character, while Director Stance is controlling other parts of the game. Author Stance includes two sub-categories: (1) "Author" Author Stance where the player then retroactively suggests motivation the character to perform the acts in question; (2) "Pawn" Author Stance where the player does not. See Pawn Stance.
John H. Kim <jhkim@darkshire.net> Last modified: Tue Mar 18 15:19:07 2008