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Dealing with agency and retcon (in semi sandbox)
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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 9073155" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>Gonna take one last crack at this and if this doesn't work, I think we probably should call it a day. Going to see if I can sum up what I've been trying to convey in as few words as possible.</p><p></p><p>Like Poker, American Football is as much about (i) tendency-breaking, (ii) false signaling, and (iii) situational/positional playing (all of which typically or universally trade on the strategic currency of <em>suboptimal play now for amplification of lines of play later</em>) as it is about "developing best practices around an optimal play model." And those three are both expressions of (a) agency and (b) story generation. </p><p></p><p>All three of those above are axes of challenge that are gameable. </p><p></p><p>All three of those generate an evolving board state.</p><p></p><p>All three of those are vectors for agency that inextricably transmit story. Story about the board state that you want your participants to believe so you can seduce them into parameterizing their mental model with it so you can leverage that later. Story about you the player that you broadcast to all of opposition, to audience/spectators, and even in how you perceive yourself (this manifests in self-scouting and in self-belief or self-doubt). Downstream of the impacts of this story on the evolving board state, success or failure will be generated. This success or failure will either (a) finish the game or (b) generate an evolved board state. Regardless, story (in all the ways mentioned above) more story will be generated in all the ways mentioned above.</p><p></p><p>The TTRPG equivalent of this phenomenon might be as follows:</p><p></p><p>* I have lines of play available to me via PC build and game engine dynamics that trend toward better or worse outcomes both in terms of gamestate dynamics and evolving story trajectories.</p><p></p><p>* I have x resources available to discretionally ration over y interval of play.</p><p></p><p>* I refresh those resources on n schedule.</p><p></p><p>* I also need to struggle and suffer and fail in order to attain both (1) another currency p to power recovery of stuff (gear repair/replacement, condition recovery) and (2) advance my action resolution portfolio (both increasing my top end of my best skills/attributes/etc and increasing the breadth of my skills/attributes/etc).</p><p></p><p>* I evaluate the obstacle in front of me, the consequence space from failure, and the roster/array of obstacles downrange of this particular obstacle. I determine that my best line of play right now is to thematically struggle to generate currency p, accrue a failure for advancement, accrue a "struggled with <thing>" in order to get a metacurrency at the end of session, and "face the music" of the consequences. That "music faced" is both gamestate change (either a Twist - new obstacle faced of a particular type - or a Condition + Success over the obstacle) and a story trajectory that defines my character in this moment and lays out a story trajectory (story of situation, of character, and possibly even setting). Where we go from here is To Be Determined. But my gamestate/story agency here has altered play (boardstate and imagined space and character trajectory) such that if I chose an alternate line of play (which optimized for success in this moment while not earning me currency, advancement, and forcing the fallout of a particular consequence upon me) it would instantiate an "alternate gamestate/story trajectory reality that would cascade forward into new fiction, new gamestate, new decision-trees to navigate (etc)."</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>That is all I have in the tank. That is my best shot. If that doesn't connect, we should probably just tip caps and exit stage left.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 9073155, member: 6696971"] Gonna take one last crack at this and if this doesn't work, I think we probably should call it a day. Going to see if I can sum up what I've been trying to convey in as few words as possible. Like Poker, American Football is as much about (i) tendency-breaking, (ii) false signaling, and (iii) situational/positional playing (all of which typically or universally trade on the strategic currency of [I]suboptimal play now for amplification of lines of play later[/I]) as it is about "developing best practices around an optimal play model." And those three are both expressions of (a) agency and (b) story generation. All three of those above are axes of challenge that are gameable. All three of those generate an evolving board state. All three of those are vectors for agency that inextricably transmit story. Story about the board state that you want your participants to believe so you can seduce them into parameterizing their mental model with it so you can leverage that later. Story about you the player that you broadcast to all of opposition, to audience/spectators, and even in how you perceive yourself (this manifests in self-scouting and in self-belief or self-doubt). Downstream of the impacts of this story on the evolving board state, success or failure will be generated. This success or failure will either (a) finish the game or (b) generate an evolved board state. Regardless, story (in all the ways mentioned above) more story will be generated in all the ways mentioned above. The TTRPG equivalent of this phenomenon might be as follows: * I have lines of play available to me via PC build and game engine dynamics that trend toward better or worse outcomes both in terms of gamestate dynamics and evolving story trajectories. * I have x resources available to discretionally ration over y interval of play. * I refresh those resources on n schedule. * I also need to struggle and suffer and fail in order to attain both (1) another currency p to power recovery of stuff (gear repair/replacement, condition recovery) and (2) advance my action resolution portfolio (both increasing my top end of my best skills/attributes/etc and increasing the breadth of my skills/attributes/etc). * I evaluate the obstacle in front of me, the consequence space from failure, and the roster/array of obstacles downrange of this particular obstacle. I determine that my best line of play right now is to thematically struggle to generate currency p, accrue a failure for advancement, accrue a "struggled with <thing>" in order to get a metacurrency at the end of session, and "face the music" of the consequences. That "music faced" is both gamestate change (either a Twist - new obstacle faced of a particular type - or a Condition + Success over the obstacle) and a story trajectory that defines my character in this moment and lays out a story trajectory (story of situation, of character, and possibly even setting). Where we go from here is To Be Determined. But my gamestate/story agency here has altered play (boardstate and imagined space and character trajectory) such that if I chose an alternate line of play (which optimized for success in this moment while not earning me currency, advancement, and forcing the fallout of a particular consequence upon me) it would instantiate an "alternate gamestate/story trajectory reality that would cascade forward into new fiction, new gamestate, new decision-trees to navigate (etc)." [HR][/HR] That is all I have in the tank. That is my best shot. If that doesn't connect, we should probably just tip caps and exit stage left. [/QUOTE]
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