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Pointing at another game, that uses a fundamentally different set of rules, to try and defend what AW was doing, is basically a whataboutism, isn't it? I noticed a rule in AW I found troubling in terms of player agency, and you defended it by basically denying there was a problem. Then I...

You actually can, at least in 5e anyway. The decision to declare nonlethal triggers when the targets HP drops to zero, so, post damage roll. And fwiw, thats a distinction I built more deliberately into my own combat system. Killing Blows have to be taken deliberately. ADND and other games may...

Sorry but no. Agency only counts if its maintained up to the actual action itself; ie, pull the trigger. The constraint Go Aggro places compels the PC to pull the trigger, and its explicitly saying so. There is no other option. And bluffing isn't the only reason a Character might decide to not...

The implicit problem though is what I was relating through the Kerbal example. Kerbal (in sandbox mode) doesn't force any sort of plot. It has a de facto goal list to follow (ie, eventually you're going to make a goal of going to the Mun), but you can also just sit around and make stupid...

Its been a while since I read the MDA paper, but its entirely possible its morphed into a completely different usage for me at this point. I refer to Aesthetics as being the overall result of what I call synchronicity, which is a measure of possible Immersion (in the sense of being lost in...

Now having read the topic, I have four anecdotes Id like to share, that I think will illuminate my preferences and why I'm critical in particular about certain things. Firstly, two stories about DayZ, the OG Zombie survival game. It was a summer night, and as I tend to do playing that game...

The difference between what the book was referring to by naming those mechanics and their seeming equivalents in genre emulation are aesthetic. For example, given we're talking tabletop games, take 2d6 + Mod versus a TN. This is what AW uses as a core mechanic to resolve Moves, which as you...

Sometimes I wonder if Im just imagining it when I feel like someone is going out of their way to disagree with me specifically. Other times I'm reminded why I feel that way. Please stop quoting me.

I never said there wasn't a specific function the GM performs. You're being incredibly uncharitable to make a cheap dig. And no where did I say otherwise. Reminder: Nothing I said says otherwise. I really don't care to continue debating the merits of your chosen reality.

No it isn't. Its actually Roleplay; an advanced form of Improv game where a complex and persistent shared reality is managed by the Players from Scene to Scene.

Im not sure I can reconcile one person telling me his games are evidence of his design work and another telling me that they're not related. Not all of them, and thats the reason why genre emulation was picked on. Genre Emulation mechanics are progression mechanics, and additionally are all...

Baker Et al are focused on building genre emulation mechanics. Genre Emulation is only one means of storytelling in games. The assertion that genre emulation = (TT)RPGs (as was seen more than a few times in these topics), isn't accurate and is in turn very exclusionary to other methods...

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The math isn't the issue, and thats been communicated already in this topic.

At this point this is just debate for debates sake. You're not open to the idea, and there isn't going to be some come to jesus moment where you find a new god to adhere to, as thats not what Im trying to do. Ergo, this is pointless.

There doesn't have to be a rule. Whats being pointed to is an emergent aesthetic problem that emerges from how the game is designed. To put it another way, speaking in-character and making a skill check are two separate Actions that can be used to resolve a social interaction. Many, if not...

This isn't a shortcoming of the methodology. Its a shortcoming of the fact that I deliberately chose not to model this in the example I gave. Keep in mind the point of these machination diagrams is to abstract gameplay so we can directly examine whats happening. Thats why for example when we...