The Basic Procedure of the OSR — Prismatic Wasteland

Created: 2025-12-22

The referee answers any such questions that are immediately observable by the player-characters. If ascertaining the answer would require player-character action, the referee informs the players what they must do to obtain the answer, and resolves such actions if the players wish to do so. Upon the resolution of such actions, the referee answers the question and gives any other pertinent information.

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Created: 2025-12-22

if players are waffling, but it is not that I only provide bad choices necessarily, I just provide uncreative actions: do you fight, do you run away, etc.? Creative actions tend to be the best solution to any problem, so they are intended more as kindling to spark ideas than ideas themselves.

See in context at The Basic Procedure of the OSR — Prismatic Wasteland

Created: 2025-12-22

The Basic Procedure, when spelled out, almost reads like a story game, with the idea that the game is a conversation and the rules intervene in and mediate that conversation, imposing some sort of structure.

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Created: 2025-12-22

However, a core difference is that the question-asking procedure is expected to go both ways in Apocalypse World.

See in context at The Basic Procedure of the OSR — Prismatic Wasteland

Created: 2025-12-22

Just like the players do in the Basic Procedure, the MC may ask follow-up questions in response to the players’ answers. The question-and-answer portion of the Basic Procedure and the AW conversation involve two roles: the person asking the question is conceding some level of authority over an aspect of the fiction and the person answering the question assumes that authority.

See in context at The Basic Procedure of the OSR — Prismatic Wasteland

Created: 2025-12-22

Why should you adopt this modified Basic Procedure? The first reason is that by distributing authorial control, you get more buy-in from the players. The second reason is that it is an opportunity for the referee to suss out what things interest and motivate the players and their characters

See in context at The Basic Procedure of the OSR — Prismatic Wasteland