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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8426184" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Using the terms "author" and "actor" in Edwards' sense <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/4" target="_blank">here</a>, it's mostly actor stance: that is, <em>a person (me, the player) determines a character's decisions and actions using only knowledge and perceptions that the character would have </em>as opposed to<em> a person determines a character's decisions and actions based on the real person's priorities, then retroactively "motivates" the character to perform them.</em></p><p></p><p>In order through the play as posted:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">* The two character's wanted to continue more-or-less due east on the other side of both streams. <strong>Actor stance</strong></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* This was heading into the neighbourhood of Auxol, and so Thurgon kept his eye out for friends and family. <strong>Actor stance</strong></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* Thurgon asked Rufus after Auxol. <strong>Actor stance</strong></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* Aramina was not meeting Rufus's gaze. <strong>Actor stance </strong>(including knowledge of the character's own traits and inclinations)</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* Thurgon answered that she travelled with him and mended his armour. <strong>Actor stance</strong></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* Aramina looked Rufus directly in the eye and told him what she thought of him. <strong>Actor stance</strong></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* I (pemerton) told the GM that I wanted to check Ugly Truth for Aramina, to cause a Steel check on Rufus's part. <strong>Not an action declaration as such</strong> - that's already happened above - but a suggestion to the GM as to how, in mechanical terms, I believe Aramina's telling Rufus what she thinks of him ought to be resolved.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* Thurgon tried to break Rufus out of his shock and shame with a Command check: he should pull himself together and join in restoring Auxol to its former glory. <strong>Actor stance</strong>, again with an indication to the GM as to how, in mechanical terms, I believe Thurgon's attempt ought to be resolved.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* Aramina tried for untrained Command, saying that if he wasn't going to join with Thurgon he might at least give us some coin. <strong>Actor stance</strong>, again with an indication to the GM as to how, in mechanical terms, I believe Aramina's attempt ought to be resolved.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* The characters continued on, and soon arrived at Auxol. <strong>Actor stance</strong></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* I tried a different approach, to avoid the Duel of Wits the GM was pushing towards. <strong>Author stance</strong> - my real world priority was not to have my character be hosed in a contest I was pretty sure he couldn't win, partly because of his stats and partly because a Duel of Wits is resolved via blind declarations and my GM is a much better tactical wargamer than me and would crush me in the declaration process.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* I'd already made a point of Thurgon having his arms on clear display as he rode through the countryside and the estate. <strong>Actor stance</strong></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* Thurgon raised his mace and shield to the heavens, and called on the Lord of Battle to bring strength back to his mother so that Auxol might be restored to its former greatness. <strong>Actor stance</strong> - having retroactively motivated my character to try an "externa" rather than conversational approach to reconciling with his mother, I decided to perform this prayer by drawing on my knowledge of my character's situation, traits and inclinations.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">* I decided that this made an impact on Aramina too: up until now she had been cynical and slightly bitter, but now she was genuinely inspired and determined. <strong>Actor stance </strong>- this is a decision based on the character's traits and inclinations plus having inhabited her through the previous sessions of play, the immediately prior interaction with Rufus, and then witnessing the miracle performed by Thurgon. The key turning point was the Ugly Truth check against Rufus, in which her expression of bitterness towards Rufus had been via an account of the (relative) virtue of Thurgon and their younger brother - if you like, Aramina had persuaded herself of the truth of her own invective! Witnessing the miracle drove this home.</p><p></p><p>I haven't tried to classify the GM's stance in playing Rufus and Xanthippe, though I suspect it was mostly author stance, with his real-world priority being to apply pressure as a BW GM is meant to do. When I'm playing BW, I don't worry about the GM's reasoning process - to use Vincent Baker's terms from Apocalypse World, I am very happy to be <em>misled</em>! (Ie to take the GM's narration at face value as an account of the internal cause-and-effect logic of the fiction.)</p><p></p><p>But anyway, the fact that this is all actor stance is pretty important to my own play experience, which is mostly about intense inhabitation of the character, especially their emotional experience. This is why I love Burning Wheel, because it brings this more than any other RPG I know. (I expect Sorcerer is up there too but I've never played it.) It's also why my BW character's tend not to advance as quickly as my GM's character's do when he is playing! He spends more time in Author stance, retroactively motivating his characters to take the actions that will meet his real-world priority of triggering advancement checks (think of a system a bit like the classic RQ improvement-based-on-use).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8426184, member: 42582"] Using the terms "author" and "actor" in Edwards' sense [URL='http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/4']here[/URL], it's mostly actor stance: that is, [I]a person (me, the player) determines a character's decisions and actions using only knowledge and perceptions that the character would have [/I]as opposed to[I] a person determines a character's decisions and actions based on the real person's priorities, then retroactively "motivates" the character to perform them.[/I] In order through the play as posted: [indent]* The two character's wanted to continue more-or-less due east on the other side of both streams. [B]Actor stance[/B] * This was heading into the neighbourhood of Auxol, and so Thurgon kept his eye out for friends and family. [B]Actor stance[/B] * Thurgon asked Rufus after Auxol. [B]Actor stance[/B] * Aramina was not meeting Rufus's gaze. [B]Actor stance [/B](including knowledge of the character's own traits and inclinations) * Thurgon answered that she travelled with him and mended his armour. [B]Actor stance[/B] * Aramina looked Rufus directly in the eye and told him what she thought of him. [B]Actor stance[/B] * I (pemerton) told the GM that I wanted to check Ugly Truth for Aramina, to cause a Steel check on Rufus's part. [B]Not an action declaration as such[/B] - that's already happened above - but a suggestion to the GM as to how, in mechanical terms, I believe Aramina's telling Rufus what she thinks of him ought to be resolved. * Thurgon tried to break Rufus out of his shock and shame with a Command check: he should pull himself together and join in restoring Auxol to its former glory. [B]Actor stance[/B], again with an indication to the GM as to how, in mechanical terms, I believe Thurgon's attempt ought to be resolved. * Aramina tried for untrained Command, saying that if he wasn't going to join with Thurgon he might at least give us some coin. [B]Actor stance[/B], again with an indication to the GM as to how, in mechanical terms, I believe Aramina's attempt ought to be resolved. * The characters continued on, and soon arrived at Auxol. [B]Actor stance[/B] * I tried a different approach, to avoid the Duel of Wits the GM was pushing towards. [B]Author stance[/B] - my real world priority was not to have my character be hosed in a contest I was pretty sure he couldn't win, partly because of his stats and partly because a Duel of Wits is resolved via blind declarations and my GM is a much better tactical wargamer than me and would crush me in the declaration process. * I'd already made a point of Thurgon having his arms on clear display as he rode through the countryside and the estate. [B]Actor stance[/B] * Thurgon raised his mace and shield to the heavens, and called on the Lord of Battle to bring strength back to his mother so that Auxol might be restored to its former greatness. [B]Actor stance[/B] - having retroactively motivated my character to try an "externa" rather than conversational approach to reconciling with his mother, I decided to perform this prayer by drawing on my knowledge of my character's situation, traits and inclinations. * I decided that this made an impact on Aramina too: up until now she had been cynical and slightly bitter, but now she was genuinely inspired and determined. [B]Actor stance [/B]- this is a decision based on the character's traits and inclinations plus having inhabited her through the previous sessions of play, the immediately prior interaction with Rufus, and then witnessing the miracle performed by Thurgon. The key turning point was the Ugly Truth check against Rufus, in which her expression of bitterness towards Rufus had been via an account of the (relative) virtue of Thurgon and their younger brother - if you like, Aramina had persuaded herself of the truth of her own invective! Witnessing the miracle drove this home.[/indent] I haven't tried to classify the GM's stance in playing Rufus and Xanthippe, though I suspect it was mostly author stance, with his real-world priority being to apply pressure as a BW GM is meant to do. When I'm playing BW, I don't worry about the GM's reasoning process - to use Vincent Baker's terms from Apocalypse World, I am very happy to be [I]misled[/I]! (Ie to take the GM's narration at face value as an account of the internal cause-and-effect logic of the fiction.) But anyway, the fact that this is all actor stance is pretty important to my own play experience, which is mostly about intense inhabitation of the character, especially their emotional experience. This is why I love Burning Wheel, because it brings this more than any other RPG I know. (I expect Sorcerer is up there too but I've never played it.) It's also why my BW character's tend not to advance as quickly as my GM's character's do when he is playing! He spends more time in Author stance, retroactively motivating his characters to take the actions that will meet his real-world priority of triggering advancement checks (think of a system a bit like the classic RQ improvement-based-on-use). [I] [/I] [/QUOTE]
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