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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6753814" data-attributes="member: 27160">What I am trying to explain is something that is difficult to put into words since it deals with mental agendas, intent and the ways in which we may seek a "buzz" or mental stimulation from roleplaying. If you are merely going to pick at the semantics in order to "prove" any view but your own wrong, then nothing I can say will change the situation, so I'll stop.I'll simply state that I believe that Edwards did a good job in identifying three agendas that are clearly, once understood, quite distinct and self-contained (although they can be blended in the same person, and even in the same game, as Edwards said). I would be very open to anyone coming up with a fourth, but I have yet to see it.I think the lack of gamist reward cycles is what makes Traveller one of two truly pure Sim games, actually, and I like them both. The other is HârnMaster.Play with both systems is interesting to me, because finding a good focus for Sim play can be tricky, as you seem to be saying here. I have generally found that it helps to go back to the source - exploration.Pick an aspect or a specific to explore - in general terms this can be setting, situation, character or even system - and make it interesting, with some complexity and/or secrets to be found. Then let the players play and use the system to facilitate the exploration. I don't mean set up incipient conflict, necessarily (as you would to encourage Nar or Gam play), but just agree an interesting area to play with. Examples I have used:- Traveller had an intriguing supplement called "Pocket Empires" containing Simmy rules on running a planet or a small empire. I set the players up as the noble "family" with wealth and resources in the "Milieu 0" setting, unpopular with the new Emperor and with every incentive to leave and form a private empire in the (randomly generated) space beyond.- In HârnMaster, a small group of friends are all Shek-Pvar (mages) of some experience living in a wilderness "cottage"/chantry. One night one of them gets a spectacular blowback with some very "interesting" effects. The players play the characters who did not get the blowback, exploring their situation... (This was a one-off for a Con)- The players play members of a military unit. The character generation system is used to generate missions that they are sent on, each one a situation to explore.The focus is on the exploration itself, so it helps if there is something interesting to explore.</blockquote>

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