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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8290734" data-attributes="member: 82106">Right. going back over my DW rules, I don't see that anything really SPELLS OUT a player-facing agenda. Its a game, players are there to have fun. The game allows for PCs to increase in 'level', gain treasure, and presumably they could achieve various fictional accomplishments (become king, whatever). They are clearly adventurers. If we draw on the GM's agenda, then we have 'Portray a Fantastic World', 'Fill the character's lives with adventure', and 'Play to see what happens'. So, from this we can take that the there is a fantastic world through which PCs adventure, constantly, and there is no specific thing that must happen, all possibilities are open (or at least multiple possibilities, I guess technically it could be 2). If we go on to the principles of play we can see techniques, and these also shed some light on the question. 'Be a fan of the characters', so the GM isn't out there to defeat the PCs with guile, BUT 'Think dangerous' he's definitely out there making things risky for them. Honestly, at some level, as I've said before, classic D&D and DW are not diverging too much here. Both present the PCs and players with dangerous situations which may lead to rewards if challenged, though DW also emphasizes the PC's roles as heroes and the need for them to confront a living world and its dangers. A classic D&D character might theoretically become a shopkeeper, a DW character will never have that chance, some doom will overcome the world if he isn't there to fight against it!Right, so here we get into the real differences between classic D&D and DW. D&D doesn't supply any drives/motivations. The character is 'a magic user'. He's one of many magic users, and being a 1st level MU is not that special. He will presumably become an adventurer, but he could just as well retire, open a shop, or take up knitting. Perhaps the GM could force the player's hand, but there is nothing in the structure of the game which forces this. DW puts it all right up front, the character is 'THE wizard', there is non other like him! Furthermore this wizard has at least 2 bonds with other PCs which provide immediate motives (you could ignore them, nothing forces a player to act on a bond, but they are worth XP). Session zero should also supply some other motives for him to adventure. Finally, the mechanics of dooms and fronts will generate dangers ONLY adventurers can face. There is no other wizard to face them, you are THE wizard. Mechanically the GM is going to fill your life with adventure and keep making hard and soft moves that drag you kicking and screaming into the fray. You might open a shop, but you darned well will not sit around and enjoy a life of quietly brewing potions! I think it is hard to really talk about skillful play on the part of the players in a sense. However, clearly if they are trying to sink the GM's agenda, that won't work well, and I would call it 'un-skillful'. Beyond that, having fun and playing your character so as to engage in the fiction seems to be the main thing. The GM is going to be as immersive as possible (again if he follows the principles of play found on DW p162) in the version of rules I have (First Edition, November 2012). I can only conclude that 'skill in DW' is just 'being a good player', it doesn't specifically require any particular cleverness or thoughtful play in terms of overcoming the fiction. That might be something you want to do, probably will, but you could play DW beautifully and your character could be a total dolt who makes bad decisions at every turn!</blockquote>

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