My incomplete knowledge of DitV is showing. Agon does it differently - in the transition phase (called The Voyage) after each island, each PC asks a question of another, which can feed into backstory, attitude towards the gods, hopes for the homecoming, etc. But this isn't a kicker, being primarily reflective rather than driving of the action.I like your taxonomy. Some thoughts:
* I think your (otherwise good) taxonomy might be missing (though it might not…C might be sufficient) another entry that captures games like AW and Blades (I think you can also slot My Life With Master here, including “create the Master/Mistress as session 1):
E) The game itself creates a premise and, within that premise, PCs are made. Initial play is centered around developing threats, conflicts, opportunities. The GM frames loose scenes, follows the PCs around, and this process firms up a pregnant-with-conflict nexus that spark subsequent play.
This is similar to C in key ways, but might be sufficiently different that it needs its own entry.
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Dogs in the Vineyard is A and C with your backstory initiation scene being PC kicker and then your C kicks into high gear.
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If the “collectively create a map and leave blanks” initial phase of play is included in DW, then it falls into A and then B (just like Burning Wheel or Shadows of Yesterday with Bonds and Alignment doing the heavy lifting).
Your candidate (E) I thought might get close to (A) in my reply to @niklinna upthread. To me it seems different from (C) because the players are contributing more to the content of the situation, not just their response to it. Especially if there is a lot of AW-style asking and answering questions. I see your suggestion about Dungeon World as broadly sitting in the same space.
I don't know if you saw this from me, also replying to niklinna:Torchbearer is a bit of both B and D contingent upon how much Twists in Town/Adventure/Journey engage with Friends, Family, Hometown, Rivals, Beliefs, Creed (3rd and beyond) + how much Adventure is generated based on these things.
If those two things recede while Adventures are picked by players from a small menu of prepared scenarios (that don’t engage, or engage marginally) with PC-flagged dramatic needs) and Goal is an outgrowth of that choice, then Torchbearer will lean toward Classic D&D play of the Moldvay variety which is full-throated D play.
If BOTH Adventure & Goal are dictated by GM AND Friends, Family, Hometown, Rivals, Beliefs, Creed recede into the background to become (effectively) mere color, then we’re in Adventure Path/Setting-As-Protagonist play.
So I think we're broadly on the same page with respect to what is possible in Torchbearer, but I'm still very much developing my sense of the system tolerances.I am trying a version of it with my Torchbearer adventure design! But my feeling is that, at least for me, there would be standing temptation to drift towards B, using the GM-side prep as more like a list of suggestions or aides-memoire, rather than sticking to the prep as constraint in the manner of D. Torchbearer is probably a good system for me in this respect, as it has some nice tools - the interplay of prepared scenario and improvised twist - to try and balance the B vs D tensions.