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Couple of notes. 1) My over exaggerated snark from posts earlier was largely for comic effect, and in some ways self deprecating, because prior to late 2017, those were views I would have held myself. I would have unquestionably held sim and immersion as apex priorities in play, and derided any...

I think it's closer to say that "Yes Myth" play of this sort is indicative of an assumed rule, "The result or outcome of any application of any other rule, including evaluation of basic state declaration by players, is solely contingent on GM acceptance. The GM may, at any time, veto any assumed...

Of course, @hawkeyefan ! All you have to do is justify/rationalize every decision you make, ever, upon valid causal grounds, as per Micah Sweet's comment, and you can stay on the "simulating a living world" high ground, which as everyone knows, is the only place to be if you're a "real"...

Whereas the opposing view would be, you've been pulling nearly all the strings, all the time. I don't want to dismiss the emotional payoff, because that really is rewarding. But I think @hawkeyefan points out pretty astutely with his dragon behavior example that the GM isn't just...

The question for the OP is, what kind of innovation are you looking for? Every system that operates under discrete task process resolution ultimately is an abstraction of inherent character trait plus training/skill. Whether that's flat d20 roll over (D&D), flat d100 roll under (BRP / Mythras...

I would phrase it in relation to the R0! power holder rule more generally. It's not simply negating a game state proposition, it's constituting the ability to declare any game state at a given moment as a valid one, and other participants must accept the R0! game state. But obviously this...

For many years, this has been one of the underlying hopes and desires for my RPG gaming.

Ironsworn's vow mechanic. You literally do not gain XP unless you are completing quests to which your character has staked his/her personal honor. Core game PDF is completely free. https://www.ironswornrpg.com/downloads

Was referring to Stonetop, not Ironsworn. Stonetop isn't available on DTRPG yet. My Ironsworn needs are well taken care of. :) 😄

As soon as its finished and available on full PDF, it's definitely on the purchase short list. I thought about paying for the pre-order PDFs, but I don't want to have to chase the author on discord to actually get my hands on a copy. Send me a link when it's on DTRPG, and I'm there. :)

Now go read Ironsworn for comparison. There's additional mechanical weight compared to DW (though not much), and I think its explanation of how a "narrative first" / PbtA style game actually works may be some of the strongest I've ever read. I recently read DW again, thinking I might run again...

The act of choosing the rules is not in and of itself a choice of how the rules are negotiated in play. But once chosen, they obviously should be enforced.

I mean, it probably sounds more . . . mentally intensive than it actually is at the table, but yes. Anything that modifies anything about anything in the fiction is, ultimately, a negotiation. It's just that 95-99% of the time, there's no particular emphasis needed for the negotiation, because...

I think if you analyze your own play, you'd probably find there's significantly more negotiation happening between participants than you imagine. But even regardless of that, the principle holds true. Play cannot continue until all parties agree upon the current game state. A player who...

This, right here, is the crux of @pemerton 's thesis. The problem is that "GM narrates results" is NOT ACTUALLY WHAT HAPPENS. What actually happens is, "The GM makes a follow on proposal upon which the group must either agree or negotiate the resolution before play can continue." The fact...

I don't think this is true. At all. Rules only exist in gaming contexts to serve a purpose. In the arena of sport, it prevents one side from unilaterally declaring they won a contest that was never played. If I can declare I won a game of pick up basketball when I lost by six points, what's the...

Of course it is. By selecting the Rogue class at level 1 in D&D, I am explicitly agreeing that until I gain at least 1 and possibly multiple additional levels, I can no longer declare as valid fiction, "I lay my hands on the injured warrior and divinely heal his wounds," "I cast magic missle,"...

Character generation is nothing more than a player declaration, "Based on previously agreed constraints of rules, genre, and GM preference, I declare that my character now has these explicit ways to interact with the fictional game state."

The selection of a rules system at all is a declaration by the GM. "World building" is a set of declarations by the GM. "Because I, the GM, have no wish to redesign or re-create this set of codified rules, and because those rules generally engender an assumed game state and fiction with which...