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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8834070" data-attributes="member: 42582">I've been playing a bit of Torchbearer 2e recently.Player characters in TB are definitely protagonists, in the sense that they have (modest) backstories, friend and enemies and families that are expected to figure in play, player-authored Beliefs and Goals that are expected to matter in play, etc.But TB also involves scrounging resources and leveraging the fiction: in our last session, for instance, the players had their PCs undertake research that suggested to them the likelihood of encountering undead in their intended destination; and as a result had their PCs purchase holy water, which turned out to be useful when they did indeed encounter undead!Burning Wheel can also play a bit like this (uncoincidentally, given the design relationship between the two RPGs) although TB doubles down on this sort of play in a way that BW doesn't.Thus, while I think the distinction between protagonistic and operational play that you drew upthread is a good one, I don't regard it as uniformly applicable to all RPGs or all RPG experiences.</blockquote>