Recent content by robertsconley

You're shifting the goalposts here. In the post you quoted, I explicitly said: "The story is discovered through play, not authored in advance." That’s a direct rejection of story arcs or pre-planned narratives. You claimed I was referencing “story arcs” or “stories planned in advance,” but...

It is about your interests, your own words make that clear: You didn’t say one player, or an isolated moment. You described the entire table, players plural, doing what they wanted. And you made it clear that if their choices didn’t meet your threshold for stakes or pathos, you’d step in and...

I’m pointing out the inconsistency in criticizing the authority of traditional referees while giving a pass to similar practices, just because they're framed differently or not enshrined in system mechanics. By your own admission, you still put your thumb on the scale to ensure the campaign...

Thanks for the clarification, but I think this cuts to the heart of the issue. You're saying that you're fine with players doing what they want, until it stops being interesting for you. At that point, you intervene to move things along, skip ahead, or ask players to clarify what they’re...

Let’s not reframe the issue. The core fact remains: without you as the referee, the campaign doesn’t happen. It doesn’t matter what authority the rules distribute or limit, if you dislike the direction the players want to take, you can always walk away. Whether it’s “stakeless shopping...

Sure, as long as it’s acknowledged that you’re putting your thumb on the scale so the campaign reflects your creative agenda as well as the players’. And since you’re the referee, that gives you an effective veto, regardless of what the system claims, because without you, the campaign doesn’t...

So when players are engaged in what they want to do, even if it's aimless wandering or just in-character fluff with no real stakes or pathos, you step in and "move things along" if it doesn’t meet your standard for dramatic weight? That sounds less like freedom and creative collaboration and...

An observation on this: in many campaigns, regardless of play style, the issue isn’t whether the players win, but how they win. Eventually, players become skilled enough to handle all but the most dangerous threats. But even then, challenges remain. The nature of the complications shifts...

After reading up on Burning Wheel and talking to friends who’ve played it extensively since release, I’d describe it more precisely as a game that challenges a character’s beliefs and motivations in dramatic ways. How those challenges play out can vary significantly, often depending on player...

Except I didn’t mention “story arcs” or “stories planned in advance.” I referred to kinds of stories, which were raised in a discussion about whether campaigns produce coherent and dramatically satisfying narratives. Your comment about stories being authored doesn’t address that. I agree that...

So, just like in my Living World sandbox campaigns, where I determine or roll for how the world is in motion. Eventually, the players take action in response, and the situation escalates or shifts, because that’s how they control or shape outcomes.

He’s referring to the consequences of failure, as in, “Nothing happens when you fail to pick the lock,” not “We’re just standing around doing nothing.” All the games you mentioned earlier, Apocalypse World, Dungeon World, Stonetop, Burning Wheel, Torchbearer, also handle failure. But as you...

Noted. Those are precisely the same type of RPGs as OD&D. In both, the narrative emerges from the unfolding events of the campaign.

You’re taking the word narrative too literally. Yes, every campaign results in a sequence of events connected through time, so a narrative can always be constructed after the fact. However, some play styles aim to create a specific kind of narrative. In those games, the players and the referee...

Yes, pacing matters in every play style, but that’s not the issue here. What matters is how pacing is handled, and that’s one of several elements that distinguishes different play styles in the first place. Likewise, saying “every roll should have meaning” is too broad a statement. It flattens...