Judge (DM) as Multiple Roles
So, what is a Judge? A Judge is the stage-setter, the tale-teller, the mediator, and the narrator. The Judge fills in the background, describes what the player characters see, and operates the non-player characters, ranging from ultimate menaces to the universe to small-time crooks to innocent bystanders to other heroes and forces of the law. The Judge decides if a character's action is successful or if a villain escapes. The Judge provides the challenges for the heroes and the information that lets them triumph.
To say that the Judge works against the players, since he (or she) runs the bad guys, is misleading and downright wrong. Rather, the Judge works with the players to produce a pleasing, entertaining tale that can be related later with a smile ("Hey, remember the time I had Teflon Kid and challenged Spider-Man to a duel?").
Entertainment is the key. The Judge and players, working together, produce the script for their own comic book. Together, Judge and players produce a final product worth talking about.
Notes:
Folksonomies: rpg role-playing game
Taxonomies:
/art and entertainment (0.577590)
/law, govt and politics/government/courts and judiciary (0.529420)
/society/social institution/divorce (0.419189)
Keywords:
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Entities:
final product:FieldTerminology (0.854277 (positive:0.523339))
Concepts:
Player character (0.948199): dbpedia | freebase
Entertainment (0.830758): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Players (0.787991): dbpedia
Universe (0.783106): dbpedia | freebase
Character (0.718899): dbpedia | freebase
English-language films (0.691414): dbpedia
The Players (0.670559): dbpedia
Non-player character (0.669411): dbpedia | freebase
Marvel Heroic RoleplayingSchemas
Role Playing Games
Comparative notes from various RPGs, including multiple editions of D&D.
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