hawkeyefan
Legend
And yet in Stonetop all this is coming from Setting first. Or rather, a template of Setting...and templates of Character. We are asked to define our characters' positions in town, and a few key relationships with other PCs and with NPCs. So there is some muddiness here about what comes first. Again it's a matter of degrees, but I know I didn't start character creation by thinking about personal goals or ideals: I looked over the available playbooks and picked one first, and then it presented prompts for what my character is supposed to be concerned with, and that's all in relation to the setting. And all we have on the playbook in a single Instinct, which might come into conflict with...something. But there's no formalized other character attribute for it to come into conflict with.
In other words, I am finding it hard to be relentlessly positive about Stonetop, from the perspective of Character => Situation => Setting. But at least it means I'll be able to understand it! (And I am looking forward to it; I just wanted to point out this seeming discrepancy.)
What I think makes Stonetop work is that the town largely IS the the thing the characters care about. Each of them has an Instinct, and that will be put to the test for sure, but the town itself is the core that everything revolves around. The people of the town and its overall well-being will always be the backdrop to everything you do.
It is a bit different in that regard to some of the other games I've mentioned, but the results are similar. There's shared goals among the players and their characters, and investment in these elements. The fact that each player will contribute to the town will only enhance that.