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Given what I know of your groups tastes, I think you'd all love it. I really enjoyed the tragic romance is ended up being. There was a really neat bit of system where @pemerton created his solitaire in secret. It turns out despite how cold Soni was appearing, she was actually arranging for...

Do you have an example of a game that does it? I ask because I play a lot of Narrative games and discussion about what happens next is generally considered broken. You want to give someone the authority to decide what happens next, as a general rule that is.

I'm going to cop out and say it depends on the game. I'm not that familiar with Cthulhu dark but based on the source material my first instinct is to treat fear as a Chthonic force, something imposed upon the character. So the GM calling for a san check would make a lot of sense. If I was...

I much prefer example one and three because the player is retaining some kind of alignment with their characters expression of priorities. Example two can work really well but I find it jarring in the standard model (games in the same broad family as trad games).

This is probably group and system dependant. I'll often outright narrate changes in my characters priorities happening, normally as part of outcome narration. I think it's so group dependant because of how these priorities are established in group understanding in the first place and how...

Yes I agree with that. We understand, as a group, that the character isn't themselves in some sense. Same as with the darkest self mechanic in Monster Hearts if you're familiar with it. Really this boils down to my much preferring a prompt here than it being just player choice.

I’ve created a bit of a knot in what I’m saying, I’ll try and unravel it. My first point is that interpretation of the meaning of the fiction differs dependant upon mechanics. Imagine Scrag, the low down thug scum. Scrag once ran away when his best friends head was being kicked in by Becket...

Through a certain literary frame, all choices are going to be rational because they reflect expression of the characters priorities. If you’re ‘not’ using invasive mechanics AND not using that specific literately framing, then I find acting out irrational responses one of the naffest things in...

The salient point is that it brings out the unwanted. There is a conflict between what the fiction demands and what you the player would prefer to have happen.

The buy in to Blades is that you’re creating characters that can be traumatised by the events of the game in the way the system says. So your internal model has to account for that. Given that, Blades might or might not do that way in a satisfying way. In other words you can like trauma...

I'll respond to other stuff later but I wanted to mark this out. Ansillia having to choose between her life/being captured and the Lotus, never occurred to me but seems an obvious thing in hindsight.

I was going to run through the example with Apocalypse World but after two days of frustration I decided I’m done with the system. I can’t figure out how to use it. It’s not that I can’t create fiction with it or follow the procedures. I just don’t understand what the system is meant to do. I’ve...

This might be dependent upon the order of narration, what the group understands the narration to be doing and the scope of the narration. I think there’s a few important things going on. Let’s say I roll and choose the following: 1) I don’t achieve Halden’s primary goal (Get the Lotus) 2)...

OTHER KIND DICE – BASIC CARDS This was done using the good working outcome set found here: https://lumpley.games/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Good-Working-Outcome-Cards.pdf Taken from the following blog post. https://lumpley.games/2022/03/14/otherkind-dice/ We used: goal, secondary goal, you...

The first system I used was a 50/50 conflict resolution system. When two characters conflict, roll the dice and see which one wins. As a default the PC is Halden but depending on the system it could be all three of the primary characters. Before the encounter even started I noted a few...

I was talking to @pemerton about some tests I was doing comparing systems. I’m not great at combat/thriller set pieces that require a lot of granular orchestration. So I’m running the same situation in different systems with the aim of figuring out what I want and what I should be on the lookout...

I don't like the term Free form. Every Free form game has system mechanics, principles, agendas and best practices, even if they aren't explicit and formalised.

I think I've portrayed my stance as a bit more hard line than it is. I do frequently cross the line but it's the type of thing I wonder about.

It’s where author decision meta-mechanics can get tricky. Does the game assume that you the player wants their character to succeed? Some of my favourite characters, I’ve wanted them to fail because they’re morally repugnant. So if meta-mechanics exist, I’d use them to actively harm the...

This is both dependant upon the game and who you ask. I disagree with a lot of the other narrativist inclined types here because I do think they’re making stuff a bit mushy. So assuming you want narrativist stuff (and that’s not an automatic assumption with blades), you’re making two types of...