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What is player agency to you?
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<blockquote data-quote="niklinna" data-source="post: 9117688" data-attributes="member: 71235"><p>Oh to toss in an example using quite different mechanics: In Blades in the Dark, you absolutely can say, "I want to straight-up kill that guy" and make a single roll to do it. <em>If that makes sense in the fictional situation</em>—say the guy is a mook or not a fighty type or even just not that important in the scheme of things, and you have a wicked poisoned sword—the GM can set the position and effect accordingly (say Controlled/Great) and a good enough Skirmish roll will net you a dead target. But you, the player, do not get to dictate the outcome, and even if you kill the guy, there might be a complication in the form of a scream somebody hears, or a new threat appearing, or whatever.</p><p></p><p>If that guy happens to be an elite assassin, or there's a squad of police around, well then, your GM is likely to set your position and effect at Desperate/Limited, with a clock to burn through before you have a hope of even injuring your target. Not only are you not going to take this foe out in one blow, they just strike at you before you can swing, and they're gonna hit, unless you actively do something to avoid that, or take stress or more likely an injury.</p><p></p><p>This in a game widely regarded as having <em>lots</em> of player agency.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://media1.giphy.com/media/93lNrr6jBuVK6a910g/200.gif" alt="See Ya Reaction GIF by WWE" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="niklinna, post: 9117688, member: 71235"] Oh to toss in an example using quite different mechanics: In Blades in the Dark, you absolutely can say, "I want to straight-up kill that guy" and make a single roll to do it. [I]If that makes sense in the fictional situation[/I]—say the guy is a mook or not a fighty type or even just not that important in the scheme of things, and you have a wicked poisoned sword—the GM can set the position and effect accordingly (say Controlled/Great) and a good enough Skirmish roll will net you a dead target. But you, the player, do not get to dictate the outcome, and even if you kill the guy, there might be a complication in the form of a scream somebody hears, or a new threat appearing, or whatever. If that guy happens to be an elite assassin, or there's a squad of police around, well then, your GM is likely to set your position and effect at Desperate/Limited, with a clock to burn through before you have a hope of even injuring your target. Not only are you not going to take this foe out in one blow, they just strike at you before you can swing, and they're gonna hit, unless you actively do something to avoid that, or take stress or more likely an injury. This in a game widely regarded as having [I]lots[/I] of player agency. [IMG alt="See Ya Reaction GIF by WWE"]https://media1.giphy.com/media/93lNrr6jBuVK6a910g/200.gif[/IMG] [/QUOTE]
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