Search results

So I’m OK with your point about Story Now, that’s the intent and design of the game. I disagree with your assessment regarding player agency in something like B2. The players have complete agency over the decisions and actions of their characters, in other words, the advocacy that Eero talks...

So what you’re saying is that if I run a published adventure as is, without modification and without allowing the players to modify the dungeon as presented, they simply advocate for their characters and the outcome is determined by their actions and decisions within that world, that the GM has...

Because you and I disagree with the premise that option #1 means the DM determines all the fiction. That is not the case. The player decides whether they want to search or not. That is a contribution to the fiction. That there isn’t anything to find is irrelevant, they still have complete...

Or perhaps that there are more ways than one to get to the same results of play? Because I look at what both of you are posting, and thing that while the mechanics you use are different, the results can be the same. Looking through both of your posts (and others), the reality is that in all...

Exactly. Because they are an "agent" of the game. Nobody can control their piece except them. Even in something like Sorry!, you are still in control over your own pieces, even though others can make moves that impact them. In something like Snakes and Ladders you really only have the choice to...

Agreed, and that's the case with a lot of these theoretical discussions. But they can be interesting, because a year or two ago if you had asked me if players can help author the world fiction in D&D I would have said no, but as I've parsed through it more I find that it's exactly that, a...

I'm not saying that they are bad. And I, for one, have enjoyed the fact that each one of the APs has been written with a different design approach. Although OotA has a lot of different adventures, they are all ultimately leading toward one final conclusion. The AP doesn't have a lot of...

A campaign doesn't have to be homemade. Mine has been set in the Realms since '87 and has incorporated almost all of the published materials including novels. And it's not that the APs can't be used as part of a campaign. They just aren't designed that way inherently. I guess if I were to...

But even in a system with this definition of "player agency" they don't always find the secret passage. Even if the player is the one declaring the fiction at that point in time, the dice can indicate failure, although most of them espouse the type of "fail forward" of success with...

But they still have 100% player agency in both scenarios. What that agency allows them to do is different, and that's my point. The "issues they engage within the game" is dependent upon the rules of the game. In your spherical cow example, the player can say "I try to find the secret passage...

Yes. If that's part of the rules of the game, then something that takes that away (outside of the rules themselves) is impacting their player agency.

It's an interesting post. I kind of have a different sort of issue with the AP approach, but I also recognize that for a published mass market game, they are probably the best option for their business model in terms of the economics in producing them, and for overall sales potential. Where DM...

1. I don’t believe most people felt 3.5e was broken. There were certainly plenty of overpowered options, but those were easy to house rule out. I think that it was a business decision because the splatbook approach can only be taken so far. You can only add so many new classes, races, and...

So to start with, I don't think that what you are describing is taking away player agency. I can't stand that term to start with, because there is no agreed-upon definition of it, particularly when it comes to RPGs. So I'll give you my definition: Player Agency: The actions and decisions that...

15 to almost 50, with 20s, 30s and 40s covered.

First, setting up the parameters for the action is different than authoring the fiction. Second, I was describing a specific type of player that clearly defines player agency different than you. I didn't say that I thought the DM didn't have any influence, and nor did I explicitly say they...

Or by the author of the published adventure. In other words, the DM has no creative input during the game itself. And I’m not saying I agree anyway. My point was simply that there are players who believe that anything other than “secret backstory” is infringing on their player agency. Which I...

That certainly may be part of it. I’ve posted before that I think that D&D in particular has shifted to more of a player entitlement model, and some take that to the extreme that the DM should not influence the action at all. A “pure” sandbox if you will, where everything is placed ahead of time...

But player agency doesn’t mean they have full control of everything. Whether the discovery was pre-authored or not doesn’t really have anything to do with player agency. The players are not being restricted in their choices or actions. Just like I can go get in my car and go left or right. My...

I guess this seems as good a place as any to jump in... First. I don't give a crap about "player agency." :) Ok, I do, but not quite in the same idealistic way that a lot of gamers on the forum do. To me "player agency" (one of those buzzwords I hate since there isn't an agreed-upon...