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Message: <blockquote data-quote="steenan" data-source="post: 6911585" data-attributes="member: 23240">The article very well characterizes the two main kinds of literary sources that fantasy is built on. The contrast between them definitely gives some food for thought.On the other hand, I think the article misses the point when it comes to translating it into what happens in game.The frontier style needs not to reduce PCs' motivations to greed and survival. Living outside of society does not preclude forming ties with others - as the ties are formed with specific people, not the society as a whole.Also, the PC-centered play style is not in conflict with having relations and societies play a significant role. Quite the opposite. It's hard to play "about PCs" if they have no real motivations and conflicts, no reasons to change. Characters who don't really care about anything are not protagonists.On the other hand, playing within societies is not by itself "stifling and unfun". It only is when it's not what the players are interested in. Exploring the ways of the society and one's place in it can be an important theme of play and a source of fun.Take most of WoD games as an example. Without the interpersonal relations, without the supernatural societies with their rules and laws and without the struggle of trying not to lose your ties with humanity what would they be? Definitely not as fun and engaging as they are. But they are - especially in the nWoD/CofD versions - definitely centered on PCs, their struggles and their choices.Or take a completely different kind of game - Dogs in the Vineyard. We have gun-toting young people who ride into western towns to bring justice. Sounds like the essence of frontier-style play. But it wouldn't work at all without the PCs caring a lot about the society they are a part of, about its laws. And without the authority of the PCs their society as a whole acknowledges (although not every specific NPC does). And it's a game with laser-like focus on PCs and their choices, to the point of NPCs not getting any writeup prior to the session, other than a few bullet points of town background.</blockquote>

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