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I mean, I definitely don't think you should be using GNS terminology in your session zero. :) Unless everyone at the table already uses it, of course.

I mean, it's hard but I think it's doable. (Although everyone has different standards as to how much mechanical complexity they expect.) Daggerheart threads the needle pretty well in my recent experience. I'm a fan of games that have random creation with some customizable elements, like the...

If the system can't seem to generate a workable fiction for you, than drop it, for sure. But I'm a fan of taking what the system gives me and letting it play out.

I agree that there are absolutely people who hyperspecialize in one game or genre, but I don't think I'd define them as the "norm". Most people I know who play board games regularly own dozens upon dozens of board games (myself included). And I definitely know people who are still hardcore...

And that's fine if you want to do the heavy lifting. I'm a low-prep low-work DM; for me it's much more fun to just think through the setting consequences of a particular rule than to make up all new rules (and then have to transmit them to players!)

Personally, I still do this; whatever system I use I extrapolate to be true within the setting. When I run high-level D&D, everyone is aware that high-level characters are tougher and can endure multiple attacks with mundane weapons with a shrug. My entire setting cosmology for my 5e games is...

I think there's a difference between "the simulation is abstracted" and "this simulation is providing results contrary to what I would expect". If you expect a narrative that a crossbow is still dangerous to a mid-to-high level character, and your damage and health rules say the opposite...

Absolutely. I've been saying for a few years now than John Wick is the perfect encapsulation of what a high-level fighter is trying to be.

I agree with this. This is probably true for all agendas, but particularly for sim play, you want your system truths and your setting truths to align. If your setting truth is that a readied crossbow can one-shot kill even a high-level character, than you need resolution rules that make that...

It's difficult to ignore HPs in D&D because so many of the resolution systems are explicitly tied into using ablation of HP as their primary resource.

I would generally say the system "feeding into the fiction" doesn't make for a sim element. The system trying to capture and model a pre-existing fiction is much more of a sim process. WFRP's career system, to me, is much more of a sim element than D&D's class system.

I have to think about this a bit more, but it strikes me that play focused on elevating one aspect of these five over the others (while not neglecting the other four) makes for a fairly interesting taxonomy. Character - neotrad/OC play. System - Gamism, character op/powergaming play. Setting -...

I think we may differ here because I think "exercising creativity" and "having a creative agenda" are two different things. Simply having some desire to be "creative" does not means it coelaseces into an agenda. An agenda requires at least some forethought and a sense of aspiration.

The class system.

I would say this. I think players can definitely have implicit agendas that map to their general preferences, but I definitely think a lot of players simply don't have agendas outside of "show up and have fun". I think if the players and GM are pursuing divergent agendas, than I would say the...

It definitely seems like the text of the spell is running under a different narrative of "possessed" than a lot of fantasy gamers would assume. It seems to be treating "possession" as a momentary condition, where an ally might be locked down for a brief period but their movement is jerky and...

Yea, I think there are definitely more categories than that. But it's also why I'm not a fan of using the GNS model as a strict taxonomy of TTRPGs. I think that there are a lot more games being played that don't pursue any sort of "creative agenda" than those that do. (Although I think most...

That makes it sound like you have the premise that actor stance/"immersive"/"I am my character" play is a necessary component of sim play. Is that accurate to your beliefs?

Querulous Smythe, human merchant and alchemist. Late 30's, short and solid in build. His pride and joy is his mound of blonde curly hair and immaculately trimmed beard. Personality is jovial and engaging, but can came across as overly commiserative. A purveyor of health and wellness...

I just don't see any reason why being flexible shouldn't be the norm. You don't see a ton of people who play exactly one type of video game, or one type of board game. TTRPGs shouldn't be any different.