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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fenris-77" data-source="post: 8012959" data-attributes="member: 6993955">The idea of player agency is far more nuanced than simply indexing the presence of mechanics and detailing how they may or may not, or to what extent they constrain agency at the table for any given player or GM. Even if we restrict ourselves to the example of 5E D&D, which is designed to devolve authority pretty heavily on the GM, there is a pretty broad range of player agency available to players at different tables. The discussion over the last couple of pages has been very focused on the mechanical side of things, which is fine, as the mechanics do constrain agency in various ways, but those mechanics, even used straight out of the box, don't tell anything like the whole story.One example that should be added to the discussion is that of questions and answers. It's pretty common in some games for players to ask the GM is there X.. with the unstated premise that should there be X it will feature in a declared action of some kind. For example, a character is escaping a tryst and needs to leave via the window, and she asks the DM is there a balcony on the other side of the alley?  The unstated premise being that if there is a balcony the character is going to jump across the alley onto it to escape. The answer to that question isn't a function of the rules at all, it's a function of play style and genre expectations, table contract, and some other stuff, but it still a key part of the player agency equation. In some games, the DM has detailed maps and the contents of those maps constrain the details of the physical space, and a DM in that game will only say there is a balcony if he has already established that is indeed a balcony there (because the map says so). That indexes rather low player agency as the map detail prevents the players from authoring details of fictional frame. Barring the map example, player agency in the matter of questions and answers is directly indexed by the chances of the DM answering in the affirmative, and the possibilities there are pretty broad.Some DMs, myself as an example, will usually answer yes, of course there's a balcony, because the existence of a balcony is a wonderful addition to the fiction (IMO/ITO). Even if a map suggests there isn't, a balcony can be added, or a similar detail proffered in it's place. That game has higher player agency. Some DMs will let the dice decide this sort of thing. They make a roll with some quickly determined outcomes attached to probabilities, say roll a d6 and on  4+ there's a balcony. That is a mid-range level of player agency, there is still some authorial potential over the frame state, but not as much as in the first example. Finally, on the other end of the spectrum, we have out example from above, where there is no balcony unless that had already been decided. Keep in mind that this is indeed a spectrum, not a three state thing, and the manifold nuances of each table and DM change the equation slightly, but these examples do serve to roughly describe the extent of the spectrum.This is only a single example of how player agency is established beyond the rules and mechanics, and in some games the above is actually part of the rules and mechanics, but not in D&D. Any example of the players having any control over the diegetic frame is an example of available player agency. I only point that out so that the discussion doesn't get blinkered into only examining the mechanics of a given game.</blockquote>

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