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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6987601" data-attributes="member: 6696971">I think I would say the following:a)  Narr games are thematically contrived and mechanically built around addressing a premise.b)  The addressing of and the premise itself is typically meant to provoke emotion and/or ethos prioritization.c)  The mechanics resolve thematically relevant conflicts (which should be the only kind occurring during play) inherent to that provocation or prioritization. d)  Neither the game's initial state nor the GM's role subvert the player's position on their emotions, their ethos prioritization, or what the mechanics say about "how this all turns out."  They aren't at tension with player or mechanical autonomy.  Rather, they both embolden (through focused antagonism with legitimate neutrality) the player's journey through their character's evolution (emotion, ethos prioritization, what-have-you).From a x logic perspective, Sorcerer is subtly different from My Life With Master is subtly different from Dogs in the Vineyard.  All three are different again from Mouse Guard and Apocalypse World.  However, the approach of thematic premise, the purpose of the conflict resolution mechanics, and the GM's role are all pretty similar.I'm going to use "thematic" for the x above, I think (genre/drama can probably be subbed too).  None of them use strict "naturalism" causal logic in the framing of scenes, in the evolution of play, and in the fallout of outcomes.  Its all thematic logic.  The PC build mechanics, the dice mechanics, and the reward cycles all feed back into this.That doesn't mean there isn't reliable world physics in Dogs (falls from horseback can break hips or worse, stabs from knives suck, and where there is one member of a gang there is likely to be more), its just that scene framing/evolution/fallout and the fundamental play mechanics aren't prioritized as being an outgrowth from the tight constraints of earthly experimental science.</blockquote>

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