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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8295319" data-attributes="member: 82106">I didn't really dispute [USER=42582]@pemerton[/USER]'s statement about thematic narrowing. In fact, I don't see them as different because, in every game that seems to want strong thematics, there is SOME SORT of mechanical way to enact it. That is true in DW, you get XP for exploring, taking risks, resolving bonds, and doing characteristic things in an RP sense, but all of those things have a corresponding mechanic that goes along with them (I guess 'explore a new area' is kind of subjective, but not much). Likewise the thematics of classic D&D are pretty well enforced by the rules, though in a more emergent and less transparent fashion. So if, in DW, my fighter has a bond with the wizard and thus stepping in front of the charging orc and effectively invoking Defend Another is worth some XP, that's mechanics, and in classic D&D the enforcement of the spell book and rules for spell availability is also mechanics. They both 'winnow options' (though I admit, the DW character COULD fail to validate his bonds, so maybe the restraint is 'weaker' there, but I would say unless the character has some strong reason to act that way you'd be 'playing poorly' or 'unfaithfully' by doing so).</blockquote>