GMs and IC Stance
A Lapalme
here. I remember seeing an article Mary posted regarding something I had
said about GMs and IC stance and I can no longer find the article. Since
I wanted to respond to it, this is rather frustrating. However, I don't
have much choice so I'll try to recap what was said and then add a couple
of points.
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The whole thread started when I had this sudden personal revelation that
I often attain IC stance while playing NPCs. This lead to someone
pointing out that this could be a problem. I asked why and, Mary I think
it was, answered that the IC stance might make it difficult for the GM to
properly abdjucate(sp) the game. There were a few followup posts on this
but the gist of the message was the same.
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I think that the reason why Mary considers that acquiring IC stance while
GMing might be a problem and why I consider that it is rarely a problem
is our different way of player characters.
For Mary, acquiring the IC stance seems to be a very profound experience
and one which last an appreciable amount of real time. In my case, IC
stance is attainable but not as often is usually for very short moments
and is difficult to maintain. This means that, when I'm GMing and I
happen to be the character for a few moments, the moments are long enough
to make me do things I didn't plan on doing but short enough that the
temptation to take sides (ie root for the NPC) will be enough of a jolt
to kick me out of IC. So, this is probably why I don't really see it as
a problem for GMs to assume IC stance.
Alain