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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 8166393">I would say this isn't a reasonable characterization of what would happen in our campaigns. The player is trying to look for his brother. The brother being alive or dead isn't an outcome of that attempt (that is a whole separate decision that the GM makes independent of the search). And the search is going to involve a series of steps, many of which may involve a variety of rolls, or involved interaction with setting elements (depends on the game, the style etc). It is very hard to say how much the GM will simply be deciding here. In terms of setting content, yes the GM will be deciding what is going on in the setting (where the brother is, his condition, who knows about him, where he has been, etc). But being able to create facts about the setting, to me that is just not agency. That is something else entirely. I want to make an important point here, sandboxes do not preclude the use of things like social skills and investigations skills. That is a separate playstyle discussion (one we've had here many times). Different games, different Gms all tackle the 'player skill' thing differntly and 'interacting with the world' differently'. I reached a compromise in my system, where, though I prefer more of a vacuum around social and investigative skills, because I understand how popular they are and how expected they are, I have a full suit of mental skills and plenty of skills that can be applied toward investigation (I do try to conduct the rolls to maximize interaction with the setting, but those skills are still there).</blockquote>

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