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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voranzovin" data-source="post: 9092271" data-attributes="member: 7020495">So I think I should preamble here by noting that I'm very much not trying to take a side in the gaming culture war going on in this thread, although, by virtue of being someone who likes pbta games, I suppose I can't avoid being assigned one by default. I nevertheless wish to stress that I am not trying to convince you of the superiority of any particular approach, or the unimpeachable correctness of any particular definition of the term "agency."With that out of the way, the opinion you're expressing here is one that I think is interesting to discuss, because I think it does illuminate some of the differences between different types of agency, but from the DM side.In my experience, pbta (the only narrativist system I have personal experience of) has the effect of simultaneously restricting and expanding DM agency. Notably, while the way I frame and narrate the game is restricted in some ways, my ability to directly mess with the PCs and make their lives difficult is vastly increased!Take the example of a PC using the Hack And Slash move to attack a monster in Dungeon World. On a failed roll, I, the DM, have been handed a "golden opportunity" to freely apply a "hard move." That could just mean that the PC takes 1d6 points of damage from the monsters counter attack, but it can also mean more or less anything I want. For instance, I could decide that the monster's thrashing has destabilized these old ruins, and the PC is trapped under a collapsing wall!Now, if I just decided that happened in Dnd, that would be a pretty significant faux pas! If there was a hazard there, the PCs should have a way to find out about it before hand and take precautions. Springing something i just made up on the PCs like that would prevent them from strategizing about the use of their resources, which is a big part of the game aspect of Dnd. But in Dungeon World? That's not only perfectly OK, it's expected! (But note that I could only do it because of a failed roll)Naturally that's not going to be a great approach if you are into the resource management aspect of RPGs, but it's also not the DM being completely subservient to the players.</blockquote>

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