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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 4680974" data-attributes="member: 18280">You could play an average joe in any game.&nbsp; It doesn't require a well-built world to play such a character, but, arguably, only in a well-built world is anyone even remotely likely to find it fun.There is a difference between &quot;You're a special snowflake because you're a PC!&quot; and &quot;Here's the world.&nbsp; Wanna be a special snowflake?&nbsp; Go and make your mark.&quot;&nbsp;I didn't imagine that it was.&nbsp; But I bet if you wrote an essay on why you don't thow zombie bananas at your PCs, you would perforce gain a better understanding of why some folks want a more consistent game than you are creating.I will also admit that attempts to run a game this way, while gaining a big thumbs up when they work, are also more likely to crash and burn than other setups.&nbsp; I'm not sure why.&nbsp; Once the gears start moving, a sandbox is actually often easier to run than an &quot;adventure path&quot;, but the gears have to be well designed.What if the players decide not to save the world?&nbsp; What do you do then?One obvious maxim of the sandbox world is &quot;Never allow a consequence for failure that you are unwilling to see occur.&quot;Would you allow the world to die in order to make the players' choices meaningful?&nbsp; I would.&nbsp; It's a no brainer.&nbsp; Because, IMHO, unless the players' choices have meaningful consequences -- and always arriving for the climactic finale, no matter what choices you made up to that point -- they aren't heroes.&nbsp; They didn't do anything; the plot did.&nbsp; And they didn't choose the plot.IMHO, and IME, of course.RCP.S.:&nbsp; Two countries (U.S. and Canada), one continent.&nbsp; In the US, in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Louisiana, Virginia, and California, as well as pick-up games in other states.&nbsp; My observations are pretty consistent in all those areas.&nbsp; Maybe the people on other continents are very, very different, but I tend to believe that human beings are basically the same everywhere.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 4680974, member: 18280"] You could play an average joe in any game. It doesn't require a well-built world to play such a character, but, arguably, only in a well-built world is anyone even remotely likely to find it fun. There is a difference between "You're a special snowflake because you're a PC!" and "Here's the world. Wanna be a special snowflake? Go and make your mark." I didn't imagine that it was. But I bet if you wrote an essay on why you don't thow zombie bananas at your PCs, you would perforce gain a better understanding of why some folks want a more consistent game than you are creating. I will also admit that attempts to run a game this way, while gaining a big thumbs up when they work, are also more likely to crash and burn than other setups. I'm not sure why. Once the gears start moving, a sandbox is actually often easier to run than an "adventure path", but the gears have to be well designed. What if the players decide not to save the world? What do you do then? One obvious maxim of the sandbox world is "Never allow a consequence for failure that you are unwilling to see occur." Would you allow the world to die in order to make the players' choices meaningful? I would. It's a no brainer. Because, IMHO, unless the players' choices have meaningful consequences -- and always arriving for the climactic finale, no matter what choices you made up to that point -- they aren't heroes. They didn't do anything; the plot did. And they didn't choose the plot. IMHO, and IME, of course. RC P.S.: Two countries (U.S. and Canada), one continent. In the US, in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Louisiana, Virginia, and California, as well as pick-up games in other states. My observations are pretty consistent in all those areas. Maybe the people on other continents are very, very different, but I tend to believe that human beings are basically the same everywhere. ;) [/QUOTE]

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