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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 8319274" data-attributes="member: 16586">It's not about the stories produced. It's about the process of play. What's socially freeing about most Story Now games to me is that they are structured in a way where I just get to play a protagonist. I don't have to worry about some adventure or story to follow. I don't have to worry about stepping on toes, spotlight balance, or character arcs. The game is socially setup in a way where I'm just responsible for advocating for my character.I'm a former soldier, theater kid, and lifelong athlete so I am naturally biased towards being a team player and collaborator. If there is a social implication that something is important to the group (of players) like overcoming a mission, maintaining cohesion among the PCs, or maintaining their concepts I feel constantly torn about what I'm supposed  to be doing and feel like I can never really get into the right headspace to experience bleed in. It's incredibly stressful to me (if I actively try to fight the game).Some traditional games are better than others here. RuneQuest, Exalted Third Edition, Legend of the Five Rings 5e, Chronicles of Darkness, and to a lesser extent Pathfinder Second Edition / D&D 4e were much better than other traditional games here. Infinity also seems better, but I have not really played it long enough to know. Mostly the more a game is weighted towards playing a person who exists with ties to things outside themselves the better.As far as mechanics, particularly social mechanics, with teeth I think where they help the most is in providing social permission to act in ways our gamer culture generally considers selfish in the context of traditional play. Stuff like going off on your own, pursuing personal desires over group ones, acting out, having a contentious relationship with other PCs, etc. This is a really big deal for me personally.The other thing I think they do really well is slowly over time help get players in a mindset of being a curious explorer of the fiction, including their own character. In my personal experience we all have the tendency to hold way to tightly to our conceptions of who these characters are, their personalities,  what they want out of life, and what they are willing to do to get it. Social mechanics with teeth help to promote really thinking about these things in more depth and really considering what a character would do instead of getting attached to ideas about how things should play out.</blockquote>

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