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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 8136642">There is a fundamental divide about what player agency means here. I think for Pemerton it means being able to shape the story, whereas I suspect for you (like me) it has more to do with freedom to operate freely in the setting (but not to shape or control things typically held under the GMs prevue: for example what threat lies in yonder cave). You guys can debate the meanings of the term agency all day long, but I think in the end it boils down to you have different preferences and something that is seen as a moral good in gaming (player agency) is being vied for to win a discussion about play style. These kinds of arguments are generally why I am wary of internet forum gaming discussions, or at least wary of the rhetoric we tend to encounter on them. On the topic of D&D, generally I don't think most groups assume the player can set things like plot details, monsters, etc by front loading a skill roll with a statement like "I use gather information to find news about the lich queen" (when the GM has made no mention of the lich queen). I think a more standard use would be "I use gather information to find out if there is a Lich Queen" (oddly specific but doesn't have a player inventing a detail that would normally be up for the game master to make). Not sure if that is what Pemerton was arguing though.</blockquote>