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A Question Of Agency?
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8136771" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Any game, DW included, has to obviously cater to a range of 'table dynamics'. So, at least in practice, there are a range of possible scenarios and outcomes. A GM could simply state (or a group could simply nominate) a DW game, and it could literally just start with 6 people sitting down at a table, assigning a GM, and starting play. The DW process and principles will guide what happens next, and no initial "GM concept" is REQUIRED. OTOH an individual could say to some group of people "Hey, I want to run a DW game with a 'Zombie Apocalypse' theme." Assuming a group of players assembles to that theme, then clearly this is a GM established theme. IN NO CASE would a DW game include a whole pre-built world equivalent to a D&D module or setting. You COULD set a DW game in a pre-existing 'world', but the geography of that game would have to be such that there were 'blank spaces on the map' and a good bit of who everyone was and what they were up to was left to be defined. You could combine a 'thematic concept' of a GM along with a pre-existing setting even. Even then the setting would need to be 'loose' enough to allow for insertion of elements at various scales during play. </p><p></p><p>So, yes, DW allows for the GM to make up stuff, but very little 'stuff' is supposed to be made up. A 'front' for example is maybe a hand-written page of notes, at most. It might get more elaborate as it is played through, but it should start as very much an outline. A map must have 'holes in it' (literally, this is mandated) which will be filled in directly during play in order to further the agenda. Likewise steadings are to be developed purely as needed, though it is likely that the most basic parameters of whichever one hosts the PCs might be established in a scene described by the GM as a soft move. It is even possible a player would describe it as part of background or Spout Lore or something like that. Note how DW is normally meant to start 'in media res', so it is quite possible the PCs are in the middle of the Gnatbite Swamp in scene 1. If the Ranger says "what is the quickest way out of the swamp?" the GM would respond "I don't know, what is the quickest way out." and the player would be expected to respond "Oh, the Shadow Hills are just a couple miles to the north." The players then make a move, lets say "Undertake a Perilous Journey" to go north to the hills, and so on and so forth, with that move indicating some sort of check(s). Here the GM gets to influence the story, does failure mean the PCs got lost, or does it mean they walked into a big patch of quicksand and are now stuck? The GM might also narrate specific scenes of the travel, with Defy Danger perhaps to avoid quicksand or whatnot. Here we see the GM has distinct input, but again remember the principles, he's going to frame scenes that allow the PCs to shine, to potentially show how awesome they are, and to play to find out how their bonds and such play out. The GM could use a front to produce a move here too, which would be a more DM-centered kind of action, but the front should still be designed to complement what the players agenda is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8136771, member: 82106"] Any game, DW included, has to obviously cater to a range of 'table dynamics'. So, at least in practice, there are a range of possible scenarios and outcomes. A GM could simply state (or a group could simply nominate) a DW game, and it could literally just start with 6 people sitting down at a table, assigning a GM, and starting play. The DW process and principles will guide what happens next, and no initial "GM concept" is REQUIRED. OTOH an individual could say to some group of people "Hey, I want to run a DW game with a 'Zombie Apocalypse' theme." Assuming a group of players assembles to that theme, then clearly this is a GM established theme. IN NO CASE would a DW game include a whole pre-built world equivalent to a D&D module or setting. You COULD set a DW game in a pre-existing 'world', but the geography of that game would have to be such that there were 'blank spaces on the map' and a good bit of who everyone was and what they were up to was left to be defined. You could combine a 'thematic concept' of a GM along with a pre-existing setting even. Even then the setting would need to be 'loose' enough to allow for insertion of elements at various scales during play. So, yes, DW allows for the GM to make up stuff, but very little 'stuff' is supposed to be made up. A 'front' for example is maybe a hand-written page of notes, at most. It might get more elaborate as it is played through, but it should start as very much an outline. A map must have 'holes in it' (literally, this is mandated) which will be filled in directly during play in order to further the agenda. Likewise steadings are to be developed purely as needed, though it is likely that the most basic parameters of whichever one hosts the PCs might be established in a scene described by the GM as a soft move. It is even possible a player would describe it as part of background or Spout Lore or something like that. Note how DW is normally meant to start 'in media res', so it is quite possible the PCs are in the middle of the Gnatbite Swamp in scene 1. If the Ranger says "what is the quickest way out of the swamp?" the GM would respond "I don't know, what is the quickest way out." and the player would be expected to respond "Oh, the Shadow Hills are just a couple miles to the north." The players then make a move, lets say "Undertake a Perilous Journey" to go north to the hills, and so on and so forth, with that move indicating some sort of check(s). Here the GM gets to influence the story, does failure mean the PCs got lost, or does it mean they walked into a big patch of quicksand and are now stuck? The GM might also narrate specific scenes of the travel, with Defy Danger perhaps to avoid quicksand or whatnot. Here we see the GM has distinct input, but again remember the principles, he's going to frame scenes that allow the PCs to shine, to potentially show how awesome they are, and to play to find out how their bonds and such play out. The GM could use a front to produce a move here too, which would be a more DM-centered kind of action, but the front should still be designed to complement what the players agenda is. [/QUOTE]
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