On the specialization of GMing styles

There was this time after covid ended (well, it didn't, but we thought that was the case at the time) where my irl group also kind of fizzled out (after we finished our campaign, incredibly) so I somehow ended up playing oneshots of various ttrpg systems with strangers online (some of which became friends later).

Now, the interesting part is that I think I did a good job running these games. They ran for, what? 3-4 hours, and many times with a healthy mix of people I had already played with and total strangers.

I picked up a lot of advice from other (often older) players, like "Say what you would like to happen" and "Always roll in public", which worked wonders in that kind of scenario. I wrote a game design manifesto about it. I thought that was good.

Now some time has passed, and I was fortunate enough to be blessed with another irl group of friends with whom I play months-long campaigns interspersed with one-shots, in various systems. And I noticed something: some of the stuff I used to believe? It's... questionable.

Case in point: should you tell players secrets above the table, so they can work together with you to craft a satisfying narrative? My answer used to be a strong and definitive YES, but it's hard to deny that in long term playing, it's satisfying to build mysteries up and ratchet up the tension in that way. After all, with that kind of time, you...

Well, you're doing something different, and the fun comes from other things. Oneshots with strangers and/or acquaintances online exists in a world which existence is limited in space (Discord, roll20) and time (3-4 hours), after which it's not impossible that you may never hear from this combination of people ever again. If you don't state what the fuck you're trying to do when you do something, your point may never get across, so it's a good idea to talk above the table about that kind of thing.

To make a long story short, I don't think my convictions were wrong. It's just that like natural selection, my style evolved to fit a niche, and then I had to adapt it further when I moved to a different kind of space.