I think that impression was created because I was answering a post that asked about managing parts of the world I would call living structures (forces, groups, economies, etc). My approach is actually a combo of that impersonal layer and the personal. A good analogy would be macro history and micro history combined and meeting in the middle (the point of contact being the PCs). I often rely on history as a model for understanding game worlds. Just in case anyone is unfamiliar, macro history, at least as I am using the term (it has other classifications) is based on the large scale approach to history (the long duree of geography, the slow movement of empires and the role of structures like institutions, economies, etc: Fernand Braudel is the iconic example of this kind of approach). Micro history is sometimes called social history and tends to deal with people at the ground level navigating and being affected by those larger forces (the cheese and the worms is the classic example here). So my campaigns are very personal, very cheese and the worms. But I need to tend to larger scale things too
Sounds Great. What I outlined is a variant of how case law is formatted. What happens in a RPG campaign can be nuanced so following this type of format can be useful to see how people handled various things and learn from their experience.
I would be interested in seeing you pick out an element or elements of your living structures and how you use that to inform how to roleplay a character in your setting. For example a tax collector or another character in one of your setting's empires.
I am not so sure you have to choose between the two. But in terms of focus let’s say mine is split and the PCs get your undivided attention. My guess, and maybe I am wrong, is you are going to be more okay with the model of the larger world not being as important, maybe even falling by the wayside because your focus is the characters and their perspective. I don’t see anything wrong with that. That is my approach to running a lot of horror adventures (I may have ‘living’ elements I. Terms of nice they are specifically dealing with but my focus isn’t on modeling a larger world. But I see my approach as complimentary to dealing with the personal. After all people live there lives inside all kinds of daily structures. Maybe you go to church, go to a university, participate in a hobby like gaming. That stuff puts characters into a clearer context (if I know a given box is part of Tree Dwelling Nuns, that helps inform my sense of the cfaracters motivations and limitations (I know for example that whatever this character offers to the PCs at this moment, he will need to justify to the abbess (and that she has to weigh how this impacts their alliances and conflicts: plus the sect has a whole belief system that would influence the Npcs behavior)
That's not unique to Sandbox DMs. Lots of DMs play up their style while attempting to diminish other styles. I can't tell you how many times(it's too many to remember) DMs here have told me that player facing games are the awesome sauce and if I just understood them it would change everything.
I don't believe that's entirely accurate. It may not be what you and Manbearcat do, but Pemerton presents his style in glorious light with the words that he uses, and diminish other styles with words and phrases designed to evoke negative responses, like railroad and play to discover what's in the DMs notes. He covers it over reasonably well with his language skills, but it's pretty apparent after you've read a few of his longer posts and OPs.
See my post above about the sect. Another example would be a local magistrate. I have the power structure mapped out. I know what a county magistrates role is, what a district magistrates role is, what a prefectural magistrates role is. They enforce laws, collect taxes, and promote farming. One of their chief functions is handling bandits through their sheriffs (but there are rival power structures they need to deal with as well). Because they serve the empire they are technically supposed to arrest martial heroes but they often can’t because they lack adequate resources to deal with someone that powerful. I also map out all the magistrates in each region where I can. For example I have a prefecture where each district I made an entry for the magistrate (county level magistrates were too numerous to individually make entries for: at least for me, though I do have many of them as well). I also have a chart with each of them on it showing who their sherif is, who the resident patrolling inspector is, how many men each OBS has; and chart shows which magistrate is loyal, bribed (by whom), etc. same with sheriffs and patrolling inspectors. I also have tracked politics to know what tensions and conflicts create problems for the magistrate. This all helps feed into how I play that magistrate (or the sheriff) when he comes up in play. Players belonging to the 87 Killers, going before a magistrate who is bribed by Lady 87, will be more likely to be released and not charged with a crime. Stuff like that.
I outlined it several (many?) pages ago, mostly so we could discard it as something that any of us were actually talking about. There is a kind of GM for whom their notes are inviolate, by which I mean the notes are their prime concern when it comes to framing and consequences. Those games tend to be very linear and would usually be described as railroads. When the players step outside the notes the GM works to push them back on track. That's none of us here, but it is common for a bunch of reasons.
