I thought about this based on Geoff Osterberg 's last post sharing the blog post. A lot of discussion has been had on trying to emulate that feeling of having a GM with loads going on behind the GM screen. I know that Alex Yari and Kenneth Norris are big on looking at the theory of solo playing a GM, etc.

I thought about this based on Geoff Osterberg 's last post sharing the blog post. A lot of discussion has been had on trying to emulate that feeling of having a GM with loads going on behind the GM screen. I know that Alex Yari and Kenneth Norris are big on looking at the theory of solo playing a GM, etc.

Anyway, this Musing stems from the fact that I am next up as GM for my group. I am going to try something new, which is use Atomic Robo RPG's Brainstorms to push the adventures. Brainstorms are where the GM provides "unexplainable phenomenon" and the players use their Aspects to create facts and ultimately a hypothesis about it. We have a science guy, and occult guy, a crime guy, an espionage guy, etc. so I am hoping that Brainstorms push in wildly creative ways.

What this means ultimately is that I don't have much behind the curtain. Certainly I will be the ultimate decider of "what is real", but the players are going to have a huge amount of world control. 

This got me thinking further about how a GM preps a campaign. A bad GM will do it in a vacuum. A good GM considers the strengths and flaws of the PC's. The best GM asks what kind of stories the players like to play. Again, the GM is not this Chinese Wall of the world. He has to become contaminated with the player's investments. 

I think this idea of "GM control", especially one we try and "emulate" in solo RP is a farce. It's just as contaminated in a conventional gaming group as it is in solo RP. 

I would say though that solo RP has the benefit of pushing creatively towards stories that may never be told at the table because each solo RP'er knows that any story vector is open, whereas a conventional group needs to maintain interest. A story of love or heartbreak will never, ever happen with my conventional group, and that's a pretty classic story.