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While a DM who can technically do anything can allow narrative play in any ruleset there are games where it is front and center. Torchbearer is one I believe though I haven't played it. In D&D, it is not there by default. Players wouldn't pick up D&D and think narrative play is the default...

That is the problem. That is not what those words mean. Stop using them that way. None of your examples have anything to do with agency. For example, if I was walking along and fell into a well and couldn't get out, I have lost zero agency. When someone mind controls me so that when I think...

It is when players can introduce new information into the game world. Narrativists would say they adhere to the agreed upon fiction boundaries but otherwise it's wide open. So a player could say, "I go into town and find my sister at the tavern where she works" and that would suddenly be a...

They add flavor to the wizard. Gandalf blowing smoke rings doesn't win the war for Middle Earth but it is still a cool feature. Though I could see a light or fire as something quite useful in off situations.

I kind of agree with Soviet here to a degree. I don't think players are thinking that in there minds. The players become their characters and the campaign world is the one they live in all the time. So for them it is like us discovering our own world. But one some cosmic scale that too is...

I think we love to have these discussions but the bottom line is they are at least two different games if not more. Some of us really value our game more than the other. Others probably float back and forth between the two. It is what it is.

I find the immersiveness of narrative games to be more akin to the immersiveness of most games in general. You can get into almost any game deeply. What sets our style of play apart and why I think D&D exploded in the 1970's as a new form of game is the immersion in a setting different from...

To me, a cantrip should be unlimited and useful but not overly useful or powerful. Turning your finger into a flame is useful but not super useful.

But actually they do. Most people can get up in the morning and drive to the coffee shop or make coffee at home. That is agency. It is not the power to do anything. It is the ability to do what you are capable of freely. And if you contract away your agency in a certain circumstance, that...

The Law uses so many words differently thank normal English that it is almost an entirely different language.

That is not agency. And that is the problem nowadays because the word has been corrupted. Freedom has been corrupted in the same way. You have the agency if you can attempt things that you will to do. It does not guarantee any outcome.

No. In a game, you do have to work to have the kind of agency we have now but it is not about knowledge or ability to change the narrative. Monte does a good job explaining the two different forms of agency. I'd call the former just "agency" but the latter is narrative agency. The reason is...

I think most of the good from cantrips could be illustrated by a single spell. You cast the spell and for 24 hours you get these special abilities which are low key but worthwhile. You can with concentration produce a flame the burns from your finger, you can also produce a pure light that...

All the PCs that ignored formation in my games died. Formation in D&D was fundamental at 1e. When they essentially went to the "run into the room and get surrounded" strategy in later editions I shook my head. Fighters and Clerics protecting the Magic User was fundamental to the game. At...

You are using agency in a way that is unnatural when it comes to the way most of us are using it. I have 100% agency in the real world by the definition I use. I do not know everything or every scenario. Knowing more doesn't increase my agency at all.

Monte is dead on in his descriptions. I want 0 of the narrative control in players hands but I am for 100% player control in the game.

For me, I probably want a simplified but not too simplified version of 3e D&D but the playstyle, no-magic mart, no easy item creation, monsters, treasures, of 1e D&D. I want the hit points to be lower except maybe at 1st level. I don't want countless feats either and I always want a player to...

If you want winter wars, you could put yourself in a Roman technological era where some empire can field troops far from home because they have a fairly sophisticated bureaucracy. I would say it would be hard to justify a medieval feudal army staying in the field through winter let alone...

I'd say get rid of cantrips all together but hey I'm pretty old school.

I probably balance it out though maybe in my groups there is a tiny bit more roleplay. If it is a new NPC, then we tend to roleplay it. If it is a long time npc "friend" of the group, it's okay to say "I'm going to ask Jim about that old keep that suddenly appeared a month ago out of nowhere."