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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5574104" data-attributes="member: 42582">Hussar, can't XP you again yet but what you say is exactly what I'm talking about.All I'd want to add is that it's not an approach to play that is that weird or avant-garde (at least in my view - and in this I think I agree with Ron Edwards, who clearly sees some game systems as avant-garde, but not thematically-driven play per se).I agree with you that it can be a hard approach to play to pull off if not everyone is on board, because players who just want to explore will arc up at the metagaming/attempt to take over the GM's story. And some GM's will arc up at this as well!But I'm wary of therefore assuming that exploration is a default way of playing an RPG in some a priori sense. I just think it's the way the dominant games have tended to evolve. But the fact that we get things like Dragonlane or White Wolf railroads shows that a lot of people are interested in themes in their play. The problem with those games (and here I'm just spouting Forge orthodoxy) is that they haven't got rid of those elements of classic games and approaches to play that obstruct thematic play.But I know that it's surprisingly easy to drift even AD&D or Rolemaster to thematic play - just drop alignment rules and change some of your GMing practices and world/scenario-creation techniques. (Of course, if you're using one of those systems for your thematic play combat is going to be a pretty central way of expressing and resolving conflict. Which probably limits the range of themes that can be explored, although perhaps not as much as one might think - after all, classic Hulk comics show you can do Freudian psycho-drama via 4-colour punch-ups!)</blockquote>

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