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<blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6743841" data-attributes="member: 27160">I still have nowhere near the time required to explain what, in the GNS essays, I find to be unique (other than the &quot;one agenda at a time&quot; thing), but I can make a brief comment on this:I think this illustrates well the first of two fundamental misunderstandings you seem to be assuming about Edwards' idea of &quot;Nar&quot; play. The idea is not to &quot;simulate&quot; what it is to be a paladin. That would be Simulationism, which he already says expects the paladin to stick to the code in order for the player to experience something of &quot;paladinism&quot;.Edwards' Narrativism is, like his Gamism, something different. It requires the player to inject something of themselves; in Gamism it's their skill, but in Narrativism it's their beliefs. The player states what they think it means to be a paladin, and it's the job of all the other players (including the GM) to show how following this code will, inevitably and eventually, lead to them doing something &quot;un-paladin-y&quot;.This idea of the story-world deliberately challenging the character does nt come from Edwards, incidentally. Bob McKee - who has way more story credibility than either Edwards or (most certainly) I - explains this in his book &quot;Story&quot;. To make a story, here's all you need to do:- Have a character with a &quot;dramatic need&quot;, which is just something they will go to effort to achieve- Have the character try to meet that need by the simplest, easiest route possible.- Think of a reason - any reason - why this will not work.- Have them try a slightly more difficult route to fulfil the need.- Think of a reason why that won't work.- Repeat this cycle until a crisis is reached and Story happens.I have seen this work for scenarios as various as a young tribesman trying to impress his beloved and a young woman deciding she wants a cigarette (yes, really - that one turned into a murder story...)If this is how Robert McKee recommends generating a story, it's good enough for me.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Balesir, post: 6743841, member: 27160"] I still have nowhere near the time required to explain what, in the GNS essays, I find to be unique (other than the "one agenda at a time" thing), but I can make a brief comment on this: I think this illustrates well the first of two fundamental misunderstandings you seem to be assuming about Edwards' idea of "Nar" play. The idea is not to "simulate" what it is to be a paladin. That would be Simulationism, which he already says expects the paladin to stick to the code in order for the player to experience something of "paladinism". Edwards' Narrativism is, like his Gamism, something different. It requires the player to inject something of themselves; in Gamism it's their skill, but in Narrativism it's their beliefs. The player states what they think it means to be a paladin, and it's the job of all the other players (including the GM) to show how following this code will, inevitably and eventually, lead to them doing something "un-paladin-y". This idea of the story-world deliberately challenging the character does nt come from Edwards, incidentally. Bob McKee - who has way more story credibility than either Edwards or (most certainly) I - explains this in his book "Story". To make a story, here's all you need to do: - Have a character with a "dramatic need", which is just something they will go to effort to achieve - Have the character try to meet that need by the simplest, easiest route possible. - [b]Think of a reason - any reason - why this will not work[/b]. - Have them try a slightly more difficult route to fulfil the need. - Think of a reason why [b]that[/b] won't work. - Repeat this cycle until a crisis is reached and Story happens. I have seen this work for scenarios as various as a young tribesman trying to impress his beloved and a young woman deciding she wants a cigarette (yes, really - that one turned into a murder story...) If this is how Robert McKee recommends generating a story, it's good enough for me. [/QUOTE]

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