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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7069025" data-attributes="member: 42582">You referred to "sheparding and enhancing the narrative that emerges to the tastes and preferences of the players". That does imply something pre-planned, or known in advance. Hence my question about the roll of the dice: if there is something that will suite the tastes/preferences of the players; and if rolling the dice isn't going to yield it; then why roll the dice?I think you've got something in mind in relation to this bit of the discussion that's eluding me.I'm not sure what you mean here by "the game".If you mean particular story elements eg noble paladins, sneaky hobbits, etc - well, yes, the participants at the table add this stuff in. (Different games approach this in different ways: Burning Wheel, which has a small publishing footprint, includes elaborate rules for player and PC generation of this content; 4e D&D, which has a big publishing footprint, publishes volumes and volumes of list entries - monsters, classes, items, etc - which the participants pick and choose from.)But a 3rd party absolutely can design a game which, when played according to the published rules, will deliver experiences as promised. If the promise is "engaging story", then what is needed are mechanics that reliably transmit the story/thematic concerns of the participants into the moments of action resolution, and then back out again.1st ed AD&D is not really such a game, without a fair bit of stretching and departure from default assumptions (Oriental Adventures is an example of such sort of stretching). This is because, approached in the default way, concerns of story/theme don't factor into either framing (which in AD&D is a mixture of random tables and GM pre-authorship of the dungeon) or resolution (which is a mixture of impartial adjudication of fictional positioning, and random rolls).But there are plenty of games that do do this - ie that do incorporate story/theme into framing and resolution, and then deliver it back out as part of the consequences of resolution.This sort of game doesn't require massaging or nudging to produce what the particpants have asked for (in virtue of what they feed into it).A PC asking a local about inns sounds more like etablishing colour, or maybe part of framing, rather than an action declaration.Unless the player wants his/her PC to be at the inn for a certain reason (eg "I'm looking for an inn that the smugglers hang out in - I ask subtle questions of locals, approach my contacts in the thieves' guld, etc"). That's the point at which "secret backstory" as a factor in resolution becomes significant.</blockquote>

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