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Judgement calls vs "railroading"
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<blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 7091245" data-attributes="member: 16586"><p>I know I keep repeating myself here, but I do not really view my play as particularly player driven or GM driven. I think agency is more complex than that and cannot meaningfully be described without talking about over what various players have agency. In the games I prefer to run most often I have primary agency over the fiction not attached to their characters, and they have agency over their characters and the parts of the fiction that help define their place within it, but these are not hard and fast rules. I have a measure of agency over their characters that their characters would not have complete control of including attached NPCs, emotions, social pressures and the like. In return they have agency to meaningfully affect parts of the setting it makes sense their characters would be able to in accordance with their fictional positioning meaning they can invoke emotional responses, know the stuff they should know, know the people they should know, see the stuff they should see, apply social pressure and invoke emotional responses in NPCs without anyone getting particularly precious about the things they advocate for. We are all responsible for keeping the fiction interesting and making sure it fits the themes of the game, but I have a special responsibility here.</p><p></p><p>The way I view it is that we are all players. I play with the other players, not against them. I just have a different set of expectations than the other players and have a different set of rules that apply to me which leave a bit more room for judgment calls. I take an active role in the play of the game, but under different constraints. I am no passive observer. The only reward structure I have is the social one so I have to get all my enjoyment there. My relationship to the characters I advocate for is meaningfully different. I have many characters. They have one. I guess what I am getting at is that it's a different sort of play, but I take an active role and am not socially privileged in any meaningful sense. I expect things out of them and they expect different things out of me.</p><p></p><p>Here are my responsibilities as I see them:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Convey the fictional world honestly in accordance with their fictional positioning.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Advocate for the fictional world with integrity.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Take efforts to ensure the fiction stays interesting.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Follow my rules. Make sure they follow theirs.</li> </ul><p></p><p>I do not view it as my responsibility to advocate for any particular story or outcome. I just strive to ensure we all have an interesting space to play in and the other players are challenged both creatively and gameplay wise. I mean I guess you could call the content generation part of my role storytelling, but I very much prefer not to. I already have enough on my plate, and knowing what is going to happen would play less interesting for me [MENTION=6688277]Sadras[/MENTION] called this sort of play a dynamic narrative sandbox and I think it is a pretty apt description. Storytelling is just not something I am comfortable doing or want to do.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Campbell, post: 7091245, member: 16586"] I know I keep repeating myself here, but I do not really view my play as particularly player driven or GM driven. I think agency is more complex than that and cannot meaningfully be described without talking about over what various players have agency. In the games I prefer to run most often I have primary agency over the fiction not attached to their characters, and they have agency over their characters and the parts of the fiction that help define their place within it, but these are not hard and fast rules. I have a measure of agency over their characters that their characters would not have complete control of including attached NPCs, emotions, social pressures and the like. In return they have agency to meaningfully affect parts of the setting it makes sense their characters would be able to in accordance with their fictional positioning meaning they can invoke emotional responses, know the stuff they should know, know the people they should know, see the stuff they should see, apply social pressure and invoke emotional responses in NPCs without anyone getting particularly precious about the things they advocate for. We are all responsible for keeping the fiction interesting and making sure it fits the themes of the game, but I have a special responsibility here. The way I view it is that we are all players. I play with the other players, not against them. I just have a different set of expectations than the other players and have a different set of rules that apply to me which leave a bit more room for judgment calls. I take an active role in the play of the game, but under different constraints. I am no passive observer. The only reward structure I have is the social one so I have to get all my enjoyment there. My relationship to the characters I advocate for is meaningfully different. I have many characters. They have one. I guess what I am getting at is that it's a different sort of play, but I take an active role and am not socially privileged in any meaningful sense. I expect things out of them and they expect different things out of me. Here are my responsibilities as I see them: [LIST] [*]Convey the fictional world honestly in accordance with their fictional positioning. [*]Advocate for the fictional world with integrity. [*]Take efforts to ensure the fiction stays interesting. [*]Follow my rules. Make sure they follow theirs. [/LIST] I do not view it as my responsibility to advocate for any particular story or outcome. I just strive to ensure we all have an interesting space to play in and the other players are challenged both creatively and gameplay wise. I mean I guess you could call the content generation part of my role storytelling, but I very much prefer not to. I already have enough on my plate, and knowing what is going to happen would play less interesting for me [MENTION=6688277]Sadras[/MENTION] called this sort of play a dynamic narrative sandbox and I think it is a pretty apt description. Storytelling is just not something I am comfortable doing or want to do. [/QUOTE]
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