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A Question Of Agency?
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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8131927" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>When I think of player agency in TTRPGing, I think of two different axes:</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Breadth/Potency</em></strong></p><p></p><p><em><strong>Interesting/Provocative</strong></em></p><p></p><p>Here is an example of a decision-point in the style of play you're describing above:</p><p></p><p>A Whisper (Warlock/Spiritualist/Weirdo-Arcanist type) PC in Blades in the Dark is on a Score within one of Duskvol's Lightning Towers in order to secretly replace some failing infrastructure before it goes critical. A failure in a prior Action Roll yields a Standard Complication; 2 ticks on the "Critical Mass" Racing Clock (vs the Crisis Averted Clock for the PC's Progress). The gamestate has changed (become more desperate) so the attendant fiction has to escalate/change likewise.</p><p></p><p>There are many ways the GM could go here. Two such ways are:</p><p></p><p>a) Introduce a Spirit obstacle as the Lightning Boundary winks out momentarily, letting the supernatural manifest. After brief parley, the Spirit offers the Whisper insight into the Ghost Field if a mutually beneficial attunement will be agreed upon so the creature can extract material vengeance through the Whisper for something that happened during its life that went unresolved. If they can't come to an agreement, then Possession is on the menu.</p><p></p><p>b) Introduce a physical obstacle. The Leviathan Blood Manifold (whatever this is) on the floor above the PCs suffers a containment leak. Let's say in a cost-cutting move, the supernatural material wasn't sufficiently processed and refined so when it comes into contact with the cast-iron framing of the tower, it animates it with the latent vengeance of the beast it was pilfered from. As the PCs ascend the steps, the door flies open and two engineers attempt a screaming escape as a pair of Venom-like tendrils impales one and grasps the leg of the other and pulls them back into the room...</p><p></p><p>These are going to be interesting/provocative for a Whisper or a Leech while some other type of complication will be more thematically compelling for a Slide or a Lurk.</p><p></p><p>The <strong>Breadth/Potency</strong> question is answered by "To what extent is the present gamestate/fiction an emergent quality of prior player decision-point navigation meeting with the game's systematized resolution procedures and ethos (or to what extent is it a subordination/suspension of that navigation/those procedures and ethos)."</p><p></p><p>The <strong>Interesting/Provocative</strong> question is answered by some combination (% TBD) of system (eg in Blades "does it hook into a Vice/Heritage/Beliefs/Drives/Backgrounds/Relationships, can it lead to a Devil's Bargain or a Desperate Action Roll, etc), genre, personal player taste.</p><p></p><p>My personal sense of navigating this question is, agency increases in proportion to fidelity to the question above and agency "feels more meaningful" when its interesting/provocative.</p><p></p><p>You can have robust agency that isn't terribly interesting/provocative, so good GMing needs to be focusing on honing their craft to produce both at every moment of play.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8131927, member: 6696971"] When I think of player agency in TTRPGing, I think of two different axes: [B][I]Breadth/Potency[/I][/B] [I][B]Interesting/Provocative[/B][/I] Here is an example of a decision-point in the style of play you're describing above: A Whisper (Warlock/Spiritualist/Weirdo-Arcanist type) PC in Blades in the Dark is on a Score within one of Duskvol's Lightning Towers in order to secretly replace some failing infrastructure before it goes critical. A failure in a prior Action Roll yields a Standard Complication; 2 ticks on the "Critical Mass" Racing Clock (vs the Crisis Averted Clock for the PC's Progress). The gamestate has changed (become more desperate) so the attendant fiction has to escalate/change likewise. There are many ways the GM could go here. Two such ways are: a) Introduce a Spirit obstacle as the Lightning Boundary winks out momentarily, letting the supernatural manifest. After brief parley, the Spirit offers the Whisper insight into the Ghost Field if a mutually beneficial attunement will be agreed upon so the creature can extract material vengeance through the Whisper for something that happened during its life that went unresolved. If they can't come to an agreement, then Possession is on the menu. b) Introduce a physical obstacle. The Leviathan Blood Manifold (whatever this is) on the floor above the PCs suffers a containment leak. Let's say in a cost-cutting move, the supernatural material wasn't sufficiently processed and refined so when it comes into contact with the cast-iron framing of the tower, it animates it with the latent vengeance of the beast it was pilfered from. As the PCs ascend the steps, the door flies open and two engineers attempt a screaming escape as a pair of Venom-like tendrils impales one and grasps the leg of the other and pulls them back into the room... These are going to be interesting/provocative for a Whisper or a Leech while some other type of complication will be more thematically compelling for a Slide or a Lurk. The [B]Breadth/Potency[/B] question is answered by "To what extent is the present gamestate/fiction an emergent quality of prior player decision-point navigation meeting with the game's systematized resolution procedures and ethos (or to what extent is it a subordination/suspension of that navigation/those procedures and ethos)." The [B]Interesting/Provocative[/B] question is answered by some combination (% TBD) of system (eg in Blades "does it hook into a Vice/Heritage/Beliefs/Drives/Backgrounds/Relationships, can it lead to a Devil's Bargain or a Desperate Action Roll, etc), genre, personal player taste. My personal sense of navigating this question is, agency increases in proportion to fidelity to the question above and agency "feels more meaningful" when its interesting/provocative. You can have robust agency that isn't terribly interesting/provocative, so good GMing needs to be focusing on honing their craft to produce both at every moment of play. [/QUOTE]
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