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I like it when things are relatable and « feels » like it could be real, or at least coherent with some base assumptions. With that in mind, you can go very very deep in fantasy but at least for the character in the story, their world makes some kind of sense. I know I’m most comfortable around...

True, and the rides of a theme park can only be concluded in one way (unless you start breaking some rules), but choosing which ride to take and in which order is nonetheless an active part of gaming. Active players don’t have to partake in the creation of the gameword to be considered as such.

I tend to see linear vs sandbox as a scale rather than a binary question. Railroad is the end of the linear scale, but you can have a mostly linear game that isn’t a complete railroad. Similarly, sandbox games are rarely purely sandbox; some level of linearity is typically introduced to give...

In this context, I meant scripted as the only predetermined outcome concluding of the adventure, achieved by resolving a series of predetermined steps planned and prepared solely toward this goal

Ah, hum, I guess we don’t! I read your message too fast and misunderstood. Mea culpa, sorry about that.

I disagree; it still was a sandbox game. Now the story that the players made out of it might look linear in retrospect, but the resulting fiction =/= game process. Likewise, sandbox =/= aimless wandering without purpose. Sandbox =/= incoherence; it just means it wasn’t scripted to achieve that...

Now that I’ve got a few minutes, I’ll elaborate on this rather simplistic (if not completely inaccurate) analogy: First, let me start with “linear” and “sandbox” are two idealistic concepts; no games are 100% linear or 100% sandbox. I’d even say that most game are somewhere in a 40-60%...

Linear DM: step in for a rollercoaster ride Sandbox DM: entrance to the theme park right this way

I used to be a sucker for slow adventure pace and long campaigns but I’m starting to appreciate more and more short campaigns. For me, a campaign is defined by a series of distinct adventures. Our Blades in the Dark games are pretty much 1 night = 1 adventure, so a short ark over 3-4 session...

These specific rules? No. But I’ve used some similar ones, including the ones that are already in the game. My conclusion is that while they are cool, ultimately they serve little purpose other than pushing into/getting out of casters´ AoE spells. When these rules work too well, they get rather...

I had this nice jacket. Sheepskin bomber style, really heavy and warm. I loved it and wore it until it practically fell apart. Now I have a new one, very similar but you know, not quite the same. It has buttons instead of a zipper, it’s not as heavy and not as warm, which is an advantage...

Now what, next you’re gonna tell me that when a spaceship runs out of fuel, it doesn’t just slow down to a halt?!?

Indeed, And regardless of the system, whether it’s a binary roll like D&D, degrees of success like TOR, success with consequences like PbtA, or triple-axis icons like FFG Genesis/Star Wars, the table must understand that some things cannot be achieved with a single roll after 2 minutes of...

Thing is, the consequences of a failure is rarely “nothing happens” even in a pass/fail system à la D&D. Even when the result isn’t catastrophic, something usually still happens because many things usually happen at once. For example, we rarely just make an Athletics check to climb or a thieves...

I really dig that… githyanki?

Having run both systems, I can say that they don’t quite occupy the same writer’s room space, and players can often “purchase” benefits from a predetermined list when achieving additional levels of success (in the second edition especially), removing some of that burden from the GM. Sometimes...

Not quite, but there are similarities. Both are essentially pass-fail systems with additional levels of success and complications added on to them, but The One Ring is much easier to adjudicate. The One Ring’ system one of my favourite systems of all times; I’ve reused it for three other...

Now now, you’re trading bad GM habits for terrible GM practices. You don’t like pass/fail systems, I get that, but you’re laying it pretty thick there. PbtA is a good system and obviously it worked for you, but it is far from the panacea you think it is.

Not a matter of years; it’s a matter of period of my life. A game becomes nostalgic for me when thinking about it reminds me of a period of my life that felt different from my life now. This could be 2 years or 20, it depends how fast life goes

It’s more of a systemic change as a whole, but (before Tasha) halflings didn’t have access to strength ASI and small creatures couldn’t use heavy weapons, which in turn soft-locked them out of high-damage builds and Great-Weapon Master feat builds. I feel something changed about small creatures...