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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8162776" data-attributes="member: 42582">There is a vast literature on the nature of action - I drew on some of it in <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/players-choose-what-their-pcs-do.660368/" target="_blank">a thread I started about 18 months ago</a>.If both I look for my brother and I find my brother are true, then they are both descriptions of the same action. There are not two separate things that take place, first the looking and then the finding, any more than is the case when I win and run a race, or when I sit and pass an exam - my winning of the race and my running of the race are the same thing, just differently described; likewise my sitting of the exam and my passing of it.How does this relate to your "literary" notion of agency? Eg if there is no printing press invented, then it's not just that my PC can't start a printing endeavour; s/he can't even try to.We are now back in the notion of agency equals being able to declare actions for one's character. In what RPGing do you think this doesn't exist? Can you please give examples of RPGs where the player does not have the freedom to say (eg) "I look for my brother"?</blockquote>