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Like I said before, I don’t do modules. Never have. The few times I’ve tried I haven’t really lasted more than a session. So my agreement or disagreement would be mostly meaningless.

The main issues? 1) "Follow the story hook to the next encounter site" was dishwater-dull 25 years ago. It's just overdone. It's generic MMO-style play at this point. 2) It has nothing to do specifically with the PCs. It prioritizes the crafted situation over the interests of the PCs...

Not a CR watcher, but using it as an example of West Marches play is pretty exciting.

Absolutely agree. We have the freedom to be 100% correct, like myself, or do whatever it is you're doing. :)

Yea, I just disagree with all that. Now, when I DM, I want to run the game the rules said and trust that they’ll give us an interesting experience. I’ve found plenty of systems, both in the narrative space and in the NSR space, that do that.

What, you’ve never enjoyed a bad movie? I enjoyed the group and the games, but I was a teenager. I no longer have interest in games with that level of DM force.

If people take away anything from these long ENWorld threads, it should be these two things. 1) TTRPG gamers have wildly disparate, and often mutually contradictory, preferences. 2) If you're the person at the table with a wider knowledge of gaming styles, you might need to be the person to...

That is true, but there are number of us who look back on that period with more than a little disdain.

Pacing and tension are functions of plot. And the fact that an author might not have an outlined a plot before writing doesn't change the impact of the plot as a reader. We're talking about the player's experience at the table, is my understanding. And the contrast between experiencing a...

Ok, but there’s also a pretty big difference between how those stories are authored. There’s pretty massive differences between D&D and Brindlewood Bay and Fiasco despite all of them being “story creation”.

Aren't you the same guy who doesn't even like the combat in BG3? :) Maybe it's just slightly possible you're overly biased towards your preference for narrative over the other aspects of play?

Then maybe it's just better to not use those words?

If you don't mean plotted, then I'm unclear as to what aspects of a novel the game would be attempting to convey.

So basically the setup and methodology of play don't matter because all games end up delivering a linear sequence of events? Well, that's certainly a take.

I wouldn't know. I don't run modules or adventures. But the core problem is that a novel is plotted. You can't have a plot AND have agency to break the plot. You can maybe have side adventures that are unrelated to the plot, or maybe you can encounter aspects of the plot in a differing...

Trad hasn't cracked the code because it's impossible. You can't simultaneously experience a fantasy novel AND simultaneously have full agency to explore the setting. Players who want to experience a story have to abandon some agency. Players who want full agency over exploration have to...

Sure you can. You just need to layout the different kind of gaming scenarios first, and worry about what kind of labels to assign them much later. But if the purpose of the topic is to get collective agreement on the exact boundaries of a particular use of terminology (like "railroad"), then...

Assuming a sandbox is going to have an embedded narrative is a pretty large leap. Basically, you're saying that Disney World and an African safari are the same thing as long as you never get out of the jeep.

I don't know, that could just one of those low-energy "Casual DMs" (tm). :)

Feel free to qualify if you disagree, of course. I feel like my posts are aggravating you for some reason, but I'm not sure why.