It does, thanks. I get that it’s like trying to codify breathing in a way. “How do you breathe?” “Air goes in and-” “No, I mean how do you breathe compared to how do I breathe?”

Is it possible to be a gaming goldfish? To expand to the time you have, to the point where you end up getting rushed and impatient because you dallied too long in the early meandering? I think it might be.

Are there elements to this beyond scene framing and time jumping and level of detail? Speaking in-character vs. saying “Swordhawk the Magnificent says, ‘Let me in the wizard’s tower, peasants!'” vs. saying “Swordhawk’s gonna intimidate these guards to get into that tower”?

I do recognize I personally have little patience for dungeons and maps (or their sci-fi/post-apoc/pulp equivalents). Don’t ask me if I take the right or left path, just say “You explore the dungeon. It is dank and possibly also dark. Eventually you come to a chamber where stuff happens.” That said, I will absolutely eat up loving descriptions of weird alien background, whether it’s actual aliens or bizarre supervillain bases or wizard dimensions. I’m a pretty visual person, I think, and I like to imagine that stuff.

edit: Don’t know if it matters, but I’m Baltimore/southern PA area. I also don’t really go to cons so that’s probably another reason I’ve never thought about this.