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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8589704" data-attributes="member: 82106">I would certainly have to understand how you draw these lines before I would be able to comment on that. I will just end with this: I see NOTHING WHATSOEVER in Ron's essay defining the term 'Story Now' which demands there be some open plot! It isn't even relevant. OBVIOUSLY there has to be some variety of possible trajectories, some 'degree of dramatic freedom' in some sense for their to be a story AT ALL, but beyond that the existence of a likely or preordained outcome for the ultimate fate of the characters appears to be irrelevant. So, I think we'll have to have a minor point of disagreement as to whether my 'doomed space station' scenario was Story Now or not. There were social and internal character issues and motivations present which played out during the game. I think their occurrence and effects meet Ron's three criteria (which I believe MBC quoted in the OP). Getting back to TB2, character's have a lot of traits which bear on their personalities, and they use them in a fairly mechanically defined way to generate resources for themselves (IE checks) and avoid conditions and such. It does seem less focused on the emotional/dramatic/social consequences and character evolution in a personal sense than just on pure survival. It is definitely there though, you can go against a belief, you get a reward too! You can then shed a belief (or instinct, or credo even though that one seems meant to be more 'bedrock' or overall character thematic). So, I think you can play TB2 perhaps in more and less Story Now modes. It is partly appealing to Gamist play in GNS terms, I think, but definitely doesn't exclude Narrativist play.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8589704, member: 82106"] I would certainly have to understand how you draw these lines before I would be able to comment on that. I will just end with this: I see NOTHING WHATSOEVER in Ron's essay defining the term 'Story Now' which demands there be some open plot! It isn't even relevant. OBVIOUSLY there has to be some variety of possible trajectories, some 'degree of dramatic freedom' in some sense for their to be a story AT ALL, but beyond that the existence of a likely or preordained outcome for the ultimate fate of the characters appears to be irrelevant. So, I think we'll have to have a minor point of disagreement as to whether my 'doomed space station' scenario was Story Now or not. There were social and internal character issues and motivations present which played out during the game. I think their occurrence and effects meet Ron's three criteria (which I believe MBC quoted in the OP). Getting back to TB2, character's have a lot of traits which bear on their personalities, and they use them in a fairly mechanically defined way to generate resources for themselves (IE checks) and avoid conditions and such. It does seem less focused on the emotional/dramatic/social consequences and character evolution in a personal sense than just on pure survival. It is definitely there though, you can go against a belief, you get a reward too! You can then shed a belief (or instinct, or credo even though that one seems meant to be more 'bedrock' or overall character thematic). So, I think you can play TB2 perhaps in more and less Story Now modes. It is partly appealing to Gamist play in GNS terms, I think, but definitely doesn't exclude Narrativist play. [/QUOTE]

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