Frankly, having a situation game as you describe it, would be one long string of mini adventures each session. Might as well do a dungeon crawl and be done with it.

It calls to mind the difference between “story” and “plot.” Story is, “this happened, then this happened, then this happened,” a chronological sequencing, while plot shows causality for why events happened.

It’s interesting and relevant, because as GMs/adventure designers, we often think in terms of “plot” and are tempted to force a party along our plotted course. But really, it all depends on what they do–the A then B then C–and how their actions interact with NPC actions, etc. So it’s really story that occurs, not plot, in a gaming session, if this occurs.

And thus it’s more like life than a novel; in a novel, the ending has already been written; the author has predetermined it, whereas while we live our lives now, we don’t know what is going to happen. We can only see “plot” or causality after the fact, when our minds try to make sense of events.

I think the idea of giving a brief but tantalizing description of a room or scene, and then letting the players “bite” on the description, is the way to go. When I DM, I expect activity, not passivity, on the players’ part. Once their attention and interest latch onto something in a description, they get into the game. Rolling dice, for the most part, cannot do that; that’s about as personal as a game of craps in your local casino.

It is a social game. If the player isn’t a genius but his PC is, then there’s game mechanics or your judgement as a DM to make him spot something that only a genius would.

I stopped using individual initiative about 8 years ago and went back to the old side-by-side way, no matter what a game’s rules stipulate. I find this to be a vast improvement in game play, for all the reasons you outlined. I think this is a case where simulationism subverts good game play. (Individual initiatives seem to make the most sense, realistically.)

I’m nearly finished with a design called Red Box Adventures. In it, players each make an initiative roll. Adventurers with initiative get to go before the monsters in the first round. After that, it’s just normal side-by-side with all the player-characters acting together after the monsters’ first turn. This keeps the group concept but allows the individuals to feel like they’re empowered. It’s working very well so far.

Personally I’d love to see an example or 2 of the tables you used for the encounters, also if the camp is ended the picture of the “real” map vs the “table map” would be really cool as well.

Thanks for an awesome idea

The DM was using one of those magnetic combat pads w/dry erase labels to track initiative. But instead of keeping it behind the screen, he kept it conveniently in view of everyone (standing upright) so that everyone knew whose turn it was and who was “on deck.” One of the players assumed responsibility for keeping the thing organized and the result was that everyone (instead of staring into space or texting) watched the action, eagerly anticipating their turn to go. Everything moved along rather nicely.