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="jmartkdr2" data-source="post: 9093046" data-attributes="member: 7017304">1. Adding options does increase agency, but it has diminishing returns. Going from one race to four is obviously an increase, going from four to seven is, but at some point you're o longer meaningfully adding anything. the 42nd planetouched race probably doesn't make the game feel much broader than the 41st one did.BUT at the personal preference level: adding the race I want to play make me feel like I have more choices, even if it's the 77th race added to the game. In other words, the feeling of agency (and agency is a feeling) is aided by adding choices I'm interested in, not any choice at all.2. Roll in Order would be less agency, because it artificially restricts what other choices I can reasonably make. Sure, I'm allowed to play a wizard with 18 strength and 6's everywhere else, but that's not a reasonable option to present. If I'm down to play whatever class, this might not affect my feeling of agency, but if I wanted to create a character to tell a story about, then this will feel bad. Different strokes and all that.3. Technically yes - but bckground features are generally pretty weak overall so I'd suspect most people would barely notice. Denying background features mid-game can feel like a lack of agency if handled poorly, but can increase the player's engagement if handled well. 4. GM running by fiat means less agency for players. This is pretty much an absolute. I should note though, that my hypothesis is that agency isn't a 'more is better' thing - you need to feel like you have 'enough' agency in order to have fun, but more than enough doesn't necessarily or even usually mean more fun. Each person has their own minimum, and below that the game won't work for them. And since there are different kinds of agency, it's important to note that a person will care about some more than others (or even not care at all about some types.) And yes, gms have their own agency preferences that need to be met for them to have fun.</blockquote>

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