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Message: <blockquote data-quote="chaochou" data-source="post: 8775440" data-attributes="member: 99817">Sort of. Although I don't think there's any error on your part based on what has been posted.In many traditional RPGs, the GM establishes a situation - like a threat to the status quo by a monster or cult or army or raiders - and then tasks the players with dealing with that threat. In the background they create a lot of secret details about those threats and where they are, what they are doing, right down to what rooms they will happen to be in when the players encounter them.Much of the play involves trying to find out what threats the GM has detailed and how they will manifest so they can be thwarted with minimum risk. Yet more play - commonly discussed on these boards - requires the players to mistrust the GMs information and attempt to check whether it is trustworthy and accurate. This can turn into a recipe for procrastination, risk aversion, turtling and inaction. The expectation of play is mechanical effectiveness.In BW, the group establishes the situation - of which no-one knows the details - and from that the players create characters with beliefs which say what they need to accomplish. Players are not expected to do dramatic things, they are expected to pursue their beliefs - because them doing that is all there is. The players pursue their beliefs, and in doing so they will need to take tests, which the GM administers and uses to create new situations to which the players apply their beliefs (or write new ones if old ones no longer apply).Since beliefs drive play, there's no such thing as 'failure' from a player point of view, and mechanical effectiveness becomes immaterial. The character may fail, but for the player that creates an enjoyable new situation to engage through the pursuit of their beliefs. What that creates is a game where characters are played aggressively and dramatically - because things going wrong for them are as much a part of the ride as things going right. This is the basis of 'big, bold moves'.</blockquote>

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