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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7914956" data-attributes="member: 42582">Critical Role, as far as I understand it, is a professional ensemble performance. I don't think it shows us much about how "ordinary" RPGers might go about achieving the sort of play [USER=85870]@innerdude[/USER] hs described.I also don't think that D&D is especially relevant in this thread (which is in the General forum). For one thing the OP is not a D&D player, but rather prefers Savage Worlds and is curious about Burning Wheel. Secondly, D&D - at least in its 5e variant - has many mechanical limitations that get in the way of mechanically-driven character arc play; namely, it has no mechanics for player-imposed finality of resolution outside of combat.To me It seems fairly clear that innerdude is talking about the sort of play that results from systems like Apocalypse World, DitV, Sorcerer, Burning Wheel, etc. Other systems (contemporary and classic) can also generate that sort of play, but the ones that have been talked about in this thread are expressly designed for it.I say this because these systems, and other systems used in similar ways, are all about (to borrow from the OP) the actual mechanical interplay of rules . . . promot[ing] the kind of self-reflexivity that is necessary for the kind of deep-rooted emotional resonance found in literature so that a character materially change in ways that are fundamental to their place in the fiction. The OP doesn't talk about engaging with the character - what I referred to upthread as authenticity of performance. The OP talks about "character hook" mechanics (which would include Beliefs in Burning Wheel, Aspects in Fate, Bonds in Dungeon World, and of course many other versions in other systems) being contributors to the generation of character arcs that are the result of the actual mechanical processes of play. It's not about handles used to engage with characters but mechanical elements that inform the framing, the processes and outcomes of action resolution.As I've already posted a couple of times, I don't think that those particular sorts of bells-and-whistles are crucial for what the OP is looking for. But there are certain things that are crucial. The most important of these is dropping the conceit of "the adventure" or "the story" - and replacing it with character-centred framing on the GM's part and openness to action declarations and resolution outcomes on everyone's part.If the GM is establishing the plot, I don't see how it is driven by the character as played by the player. You seem to be referring here to authentic performances ("making that connection") on the part of the players. Not to the mechanical interplay of rules producing engaging, dramatic character arcs.</blockquote>

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