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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7556362" data-attributes="member: 6775031"><p>We're probably not using the term in the same way. If you look at old modules, where everything in the dungeon is written on the map before the PCs are even created, then that's a good example of a protagonism-neutral environment. The challenges exist, as they are, regardless of who faces them. Whether you're level 1 or level 50, those goblins still have 4hp. Whether you're a noble or a mercenary, the NPCs are all individuals with their own agendas and no personal ties to you.</p><p></p><p>PCs are powerful, but only for what they actually are within the game world. Your fighter might be very strong and very skilled, but the outcome of anything they do is a result of their strength and skill, and not "because they're the protagonist".</p><p></p><p>PCs are special, because they find themselves in a situation where they can do something interesting. (Granted, it's easier for them to find themselves in that position, because they're more powerful than most people.) That's an entirely-out-of-game framing mechanism, though. It's the premise, from which events flow; and no matter how contrived the premise is, that doesn't affect how the narrative moves from that point. </p><p></p><p>Protagonism, as I use the term, refers to a specific form of meta-gaming where the GM treats PCs differently in-game because they're PCs. If you're playing as The Chosen One, and you get involved in crazy shenanigans because everyone knows you're The Chosen One, then that's one thing. If you're playing as Just Some Guy, and you get involved in crazy shenanigans because you coincidentally look exactly like The Chosen One with a slightly different haircut, then that's protagonism. If you make it to the end of the dungeon, and it turns out the Darth Vader knock-off who was trying to take over the world was secretly your brother, then that's protagonism.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7556362, member: 6775031"] We're probably not using the term in the same way. If you look at old modules, where everything in the dungeon is written on the map before the PCs are even created, then that's a good example of a protagonism-neutral environment. The challenges exist, as they are, regardless of who faces them. Whether you're level 1 or level 50, those goblins still have 4hp. Whether you're a noble or a mercenary, the NPCs are all individuals with their own agendas and no personal ties to you. PCs are powerful, but only for what they actually are within the game world. Your fighter might be very strong and very skilled, but the outcome of anything they do is a result of their strength and skill, and not "because they're the protagonist". PCs are special, because they find themselves in a situation where they can do something interesting. (Granted, it's easier for them to find themselves in that position, because they're more powerful than most people.) That's an entirely-out-of-game framing mechanism, though. It's the premise, from which events flow; and no matter how contrived the premise is, that doesn't affect how the narrative moves from that point. Protagonism, as I use the term, refers to a specific form of meta-gaming where the GM treats PCs differently in-game because they're PCs. If you're playing as The Chosen One, and you get involved in crazy shenanigans because everyone knows you're The Chosen One, then that's one thing. If you're playing as Just Some Guy, and you get involved in crazy shenanigans because you coincidentally look exactly like The Chosen One with a slightly different haircut, then that's protagonism. If you make it to the end of the dungeon, and it turns out the Darth Vader knock-off who was trying to take over the world was secretly your brother, then that's protagonism. [/QUOTE]
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