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I’m in between handling considerably more important matters, but I can’t let this pass unchallenged. This is a ridiculous, embarrassing position that should make you triple take both your thoughts and what you let spill out from your hands as virtual ink. The person you’re responding to? I’ve...

I’m out of town on my phone and I don’t have time to engage with things. However, feel free to look the 3 x 4e PBP games here and the current DW game in NCS. There are other games in the past on here (both 4e and DW) that should do the same work. 1 of those games is No Myth 4e. The other 3...

Not a concern about you guys’ debate. Concern was about concept creep around story as it pertains to play or concept misunderstanding “getting out the door.” The amount of digital ink I’ve written simply to try to correct the record on these subjects and gently help people play these games...

Ok, I’m just landing and seeing this. I want to clarify briefly. It’s not “character-centric” in isolation. It’s that in concert with “arc(s)” and “storytellling” where the issue arises. I don’t have time to connect those dots, but I hope the (exhaustive amount) I’ve written on this issue can...

I’m about 10 minutes from catching a plane, so I don’t have time to engage much. But there are some things regarding Story Now (Narrativism in Forge design theory) play that is being distorted here and it leading to some odd exchanges and conclusions. I’m seeing terms like “character-centric”...

What I would say to this is four-fold: 1) Every time we (the collective commenters) do this, commentary always circles back to the "I don't find x immersive" move. Every_single_ time. I get it. You (and others) have an autobiographical feature of your cognitive orientation to playing RPGs...

@Pedantic , I saw your tag. I'll try to get a response to you tomorrow. Just going to Snip in the prior back-and-forth here for context: Ok, I'm going to make up a game called The Fisherman and the Fighter. This is a focused game that is about (a) the nature of these two PCs as well as...

You do realize this bolded bit is an extremely subjective judgement call which can deliver terrific levels of disagreement. An easy area of disagreement actually engages with the immersion/habitation issue. If someone is playing a PC in a locale where that PC (a) inhabited for the course of...

How does this restraint manifest in a way that is knowable to the players? And not just knowable, but sufficiently decipherable such that their decision-tree work is informed by it and actually autonomous (contra the GM basically playing their character for them in various moments)? That is...

This is what frustrates me about the "trust the GM" axiom: If the actual gameplay layer is transparently systematized in a compelling, engaging way for player decision-trees and the GM executes their part in delivering that gameplay layer in an expert and deft fashion? We...don't have to...

Perhaps this is the way your unique cohort has resolved things, but this bears zero resemblance to the way small group interactions in the myriad disciplines that I've been involved with have been handling things for decades. I've been involved in multiple sports at various levels. I've been...

I just meant that you guys' back-and-forth was embedded in this greater conversation around railroading and black box GMing. Therefore there are parallels and implications. For instance, A GM's orientation to play of "I have a world simulation running in my head, it is impartial and...

You and I have been involved in a lot of threads together over the years. In the past you've talked about play anecdotes (I don't know if those are mere moments, brief interludes, session-spanning, or longer) that are low to zero stakes, color-focused, freeplay where play concentrates on benign...

Those 3 x bullet points that I put forth aren't things I would put forth as techniques. I meant them as principled constraints and requirements. For instance, engineers (including those in charge of aesthetics) and brand fans might say a Lotus coupe must have the following benchmarks: Be...

No clue where you're getting this. (a) I don't "miss the point" generally here in this conversation (my contribution has been minimal) and (b) I definitely don't "miss the point by trying to define a sandbox campaign beyond saying that players are allowed to trash the setting." No idea where...

Yeah. Exactly. (i) Setting Tourism (Theme Park) + (ii) Pick Your Own Railroad (from a menu) + (iii) Discretionally Break Your Railroad Up With Auxiliary Content ( (iiia) Side Quests or (iiib) Dollhouse Play) = A particular form of play. It might even be constitutive of "Sandbox Play" for one...

I've been thinking on Blades in the Dark vs Scum & Villainy as well as Neverwinter Campaign Setting 4e vs PoL 4e. I think there is absolutely a central lesson here in terms of "what constitutes a sandbox." I probably need to develop my thoughts more, but I think the central points of...