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="Ondath" data-source="post: 8624457" data-attributes="member: 7031770">You know, mentioning freeform RP in this way brought back memories of my roleplaying guild in World of Warcraft, which in hindsight was the first place where I truly encountered RPGs. I mostly forgot any lessons I learnt from those when switching to TTRPGs with D&D 3.5, but all the conventions you describe (there being no rules barring social conventions, games being mostly about lengthy descriptions and dialogues etc.) were there.What's more interesting is how my current TTRPG tastes clashed with WoW RP guilds when I got into a Night Elf only RP guild in WoW Classic (shoutout to the World Tree!). I now had 5+ years of TTRPG experience and when I had the opportunity to participate in events in the guild, I found myself really put off by the freeform format ("but... how will I know you're not just giving your character buttpull superpowers?!" was a sentiment I found myself having) and even tried to introduce more "crunchy" adventures (I tried running a very simplified D&D-like combat for druids raiding Stormrage Barrow Dens and got everyone to roll initiative and roll and describe results accordingly, for instance). I think the other guild members were as confused at my attempts at giving freeform RP crunch as I was confused at their attempts to run a game solely off of agreements.All this to say, system clearly matters. And I think looking back on freeform RPs (be they in forums or MMORPGs), the experience they offer is quite narrativist: Everyone shares considerable control over the narrative and you're expected to use this power wisely to see where the story will be led now. I had a hard time appreciating this mode of play after being shaped so heavily by D&D's gamist and simulationist ways.</blockquote>

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