NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Shaman" data-source="post: 5124054" data-attributes="member: 26473">Hobo, this sounds a lot like <a href="http://www.logicalfallacies.info/presumption/no-true-scotsman/" target="_blank">"no true Scotsman."</a>Like Ariosto, I get a little tired of people who dislike my preferred approach to roleplaying games taking it upon themselves to define the terms and conditions of that approach.Those who advocate a 'sandbox' approach to gaming are no more adamant or persistent than those who advocate a more story-oriented approach, in my experience. There has been a resurgence of interest in sandbox-style play on different rpg message boards, so these discussions assume a higher profile perhaps. I think Stoat nailed this in the very first reply to the thread.I think Stoat's explanation is spot on.In my experience, the point, the purpose, and the focus develop in play, from the players' choices for their adventuring characters, rather than flowing from the referee.My personal preference is to run my games in a status quo setting. The world is what it is, and it's incumbent upon the players and their characters to make their way in it. What this isn't is an endless series of "monster lairs" to be found and looted. It's a world filled with non-player characters who are doind stuff: they have agendas, friends, allies, and rivals, and as the adventurers explore the world and pursue their goals, they become enmeshed in those agendas as well involving those non-player characters in their own goals.In my experience it's setting and pursuing adventurers' goals that drive the game, that give it point and purpose. For <a href="http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/le-ballet-de-l-acier" target="_blank">my current project</a> those goals could be something like become a master superior of the <a href="http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/le-ballet-de-l-acier/wikis/académie-darmes" target="_blank">Académie d'Armes</a>, a marshal of the <a href="http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/le-ballet-de-l-acier/wikis/royal-army" target="_blank">royal army</a>, grand master of an <a href="http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/le-ballet-de-l-acier/wikis/orders-of-knighthood" target="_blank">order of knights</a>, a bishop of the Church, or even replace Cardinal Richelieu himself as first minister of France. A player could also choose for his character to be a simple rake, gambling his family fortune, seducing a new mistress every week, and crossing blades with any who give him a sideways glance, if that's what the player wants and it will sustain the player's interest.The key here is that the proactive pursuit of goals is the point of friction between the adventurers and the game-world. It's what generates conflict, and gives the game shape and focus over time.Forgive me for asking the obvious, but you do understand there are fundamental differences between playing a computer game and a tabletop roleplaying game, right? That the experience of one is not necessarily analagous to the other?</blockquote>

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