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And what I’m saying, and I expect most others familiar with the game would agree, is that most of the time, the relevant Action is pretty obvious. Yes, the game allows for more than one… they want players to be creative. But they also want players to be principled in their approach to play...

No, I’m not blind. What a douchey way to disagree. I have run both types of campaigns as well. I’m not blind to the differences. I have a different experience than you, and that’s led to a different point of view. Telling someone they’re blind because they don’t have the same exact view as you...

Yes, there’s a difference between a player actively seeking to position things to his character’s strengths than “just describing it that way”. I mean… things can be positioned such that a guard cannot reasonably be sneaked up upon. If that’s the case, Prowl is off the table. That the actions...

Yeah, I think lowering Position and/or Effect is something that’s missing when I see complaints like this. The book provides a page or more of examples along the line of “you might use Tinker, but Wreck would be better”. I’ve definitely offered different Position/Effect when a player suggests...

See… “they are all combat skills” is what I think is off. And also “you just try to describe the thing so that the best skill applies” seems like the fictional situation in play doesn’t matter all that much. Is the character up close and personal, facing off with their opponent? Why would it...

This sounds very off to me. It sounds like players trying to angle to use their best action rating for as much as possible. Yes, players ultimately choose which action to use for a given task… but they’re also told not to be weasels about it. And to embrace danger. Hemming and hawing and...

Assuming equal skill on the parts of Laura and Liam, it can go either way… but I tend to lean toward Liam as being more likely to portray a consistent world. What I see when you describe tons of prep is tons of opportunity for inconsistency. What Laura’s doing is predetermining a whole slew of...

Who gets to say what and when… that’s a rule. So if the conversation that is the game is happening, then rules are being used.

So two members of my longtime gaming group needed a game for our Monday night session via Discord when another game was placed on hold. We decided that it might be interesting to play Ironsworn with no GM. The game is designed to be played with a GM, or solo with no GM, or cooperative with no...

That’s a rather crappy interpretation. I didn’t really describe the mechanics at all…just pointed out that they exist and therefore constrain the participants. It’d be like if I said “what makes your D&D experience a game? It sounds like the GM telling you a story.” If you have any actual...

I think there’s advice in the book for the GM to turn to the players if they’re struggling with ideas. I don’t think it’s meant as standard practice, but its presence certainly implies at least a more permissive attitude toward this type of thing. Combine that with other elements… Devil’s...

I don’t think the milestone need to be so specifically defined ahead of time to work. Or that if they are, that they require one outcome. “I will learn what happened to my brother” is one that allows for all manner of outcome. All it does is explain the character’s desire. It doesn’t say how...

Oh for sure. I had to play and run some games like that before I really got it. I listened to folks here and dome other online spaces and that gave me some ideas. At the most basic, I just stopped reflexively disagreeing and accepted what they were saying. But I still then had to play some games...

I don’t think that the approach being advocated for is one where PCs cannot change their motivations or adopt new ones based on what happens in play. It’s more that they have ones at the beginning of play that help establish that they’ve existed in this place prior to play beginning. I’ve seen...

So there’s hope for the future! Sure, but if they’re not considered when creating “hooks” or other content, then as has been pointed out, you’re relying on luck for things to line up. If those motivations are considered when creating elements of the game world, then things tend to remain...

I’ve seen that at times. I think it shows a lack of understanding on the part of the person saying it.

Okay… but all (or maybe most) of the hooks are GM created content. Choosing from a menu of options certainly gives players choices of what to do, but I’m not sure if that’s player-driven. Or not as player- driven as it could be. What are the motivations for the characters to get involved in...

In my experience, they are certainly connected. I don't think that makes it a necessity. One can have a player-driven game that is an otherwise very traditionally prepared RPG. But that approach does not benefit a player driven experience. I think involving the players in the setting creation...

Yeah, I think the one common thread we're seeing amongst the folks posting about success of player-driven campaigns is that they all seem to involve player contribution to the setting. This may be by way of formal prompts as part of character creation or it may be the product of a GM who just...

Just FYI, I ran a game of BitD that went longer than 50 sessions. The game does have elements in there that support it. You generally have to embrace some amount of troupe play, and you have to expect that PCs will die or retire, and new PCs will be introduced. I’ve also run or played in...