More links to TTRPG theory. Two posts both worth you're time if you're interested in this area:
Five Faces of the GM: Age of Ravens
Ben Lehman's Introduction to Forge Theory
Got some thoughts sparked by both:
Five Faces of the GM
This one was a little uncanny to me for how squarely it pinpointed the skills I (also) think are crucial to good GMing. Also those skills that (to briefly toot my own horn: toot!) I'm particularly proud of in my own GMing.
To illustrate the uncanniness: I read a section out loud to Olivia, saying 'I feel weirdly specifically perceived by this article', and proceeded to expound on what I'd read out and how that works for me personally. Only to then return to reading and find the next paragraph to be startlingly close to word-for-word what I'd just said.
Anyway, good piece, and a good articulation of some of what I also think of as the transferable soft skills of GMing.
Forge Theory
This was really interesting. I love structures and models for approaching and thinking about... well, most things if I'm honest.
But this was doubly interesting for me because: well, when it comes to writing and narrative craft, I often melt my own brain trying to hold some big metastructure of all my various tools, approaches, and heuristics in my head. I have an almost obsessive fear of 'forgetting how to do a particular thing'. Which is obviously nonsense, but is something I encounter a lot.
Seeing this forge theory model of the game structures (and compare with the three layers article I linked the other day) made me reflect on how these deep models of how things break down are really useful and empowering to inform thinking and action, and are especially valuable if you need to really interrogate something in depth and think critically about it. You already have a good sense of the dynamics and factors underpinning any proximal event to work back towards. But you can't live in that layer all the time because it would be debilitatingly, distractingly complex.
What clicked for me was the idea of these big models as a sort of armature -- something really sturdy to underpin the moment-to-moment work you're doing, and something you can peel back towards and rely on if things really need it. But it's the underlying structure, not the entire thing in and of itself.