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So we are on the same page, this is what kicked off the subthread: What I’m doing during pre-game is more akin to being a travel agent, not a storyteller. The players ask about various places that interest them. If those places are already in my notes, I describe what’s there. If not, I say...

Makes sense. I know my reply is short, but what you just said sounds reasonable. That raises a question I recently asked a friend who enjoys BW, PbtA, and similar systems. Let’s say you finish your Stonetop campaign in a year or two. Would you feel comfortable using the system again for...

Back in the '80s, I dropped the AD&D XP system in favor of the following approach. I don’t use all of it anymore, but I still award XP for defeating monsters, and what most would now call a milestone award. That milestone award uses the same formula I originally created for a roleplaying award...

This seems like a significant distinction between the different styles of play. To be clear, it is not a downside. To me, it looks to be a consequence of focusing on player-first,, and the fact that many of these RPGs go for a prep-light build, it's a you-go character-centric approach. On...

I want to point out an inconsistency: I agree with this. "Concerns of the characters" has a broad scope and can encompass many kinds of goals and motivations. But this phrasing, if interpreted narrowly, risks painting referee-first campaigns as having a limited scope. Exploration is only one...

What if you don’t have to spend a substantial amount of time exploring or learning about the setting, yet the campaign is still managed using my Living World sandbox approach? Would that partially address the concern you're raising? As for "conflicts that are external to the characters’...

Yeah, we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one. I’m more interested in seeing how the players “trash” my setting on their terms. I don’t want to tell them how to do it through rules incentives. The only time I include mechanics like that is when it reflects how the setting actually works...

It’s the “devoid of any consideration or input” part that doesn’t reflect how I run things. Player-first RPGs often start with a light touch when describing the setting. Most of what exists is tightly tied to the characters, important locations, people, and situations exist because they matter...

I understand your frustration. I’ve been thinking about this too, and as folks have probably noticed, I like to dig into what assumptions are actually driving our different playstyles. Way back in the thread, we touched on some of these clashes, but I don’t think we ever really addressed what...

Looks like a good approach to me. One further detail about Joe and his character Max is that after the campaign’s he never got into who he was and what he was about. Outside of working with the group he was always talking to NPCs and building up a web of contacts and collecting rumors...

Always viewed it more as acting as my players’ travel agent, with the wrinkle that if a location isn’t detailed in my notes, I flesh it out as needed. The test, in my view, is this: can your style support running a campaign where the players tell you nothing about their goals, motivations, or...

There is no contradiction. To put it simply, as I am not acting as a storyteller.

First, I want to say I appreciate the way you wrote your response. I think it advances the conversation and raises some good points. While I wouldn’t characterize what we’re doing as fundamentally different, because there’s considerable overlap in techniques, I will agree that BW, PbtA, FitD...