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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 8227707" data-attributes="member: 70468">I think a concrete example would be helpful. I’m going to take a shot at that using my game and our Scum and Villainy game.In my OSE game, the PCs started the session by having a planning meeting. Because they know that picking fights imprudently is a surefire way to get killed, they don’t want to engage the ghouls directly. Instead, they’ve decided to do two things: procure a lot of oil that they can use to light and burn the ghouls after luring them into their trap, and hire retainers to beef up their numbers.After deciding on that course of action, the PCs headed to town to see who they could hire. Knowing they were planning to do this, I had prepared some potential candidates. If they had just sprung it on me, I could have improvised it, but the effect would have been the same (the referee authored the NPCs). I narrated the travel montage, and they found themselves at the market square.Some of the PCs decided to go shopping for supplies while others went over to check the notice board to see what had been posted. They found a couple of notices that looked interesting. One was for a ranger, and another was a fighter. I improvised that the ranger notice said that the ranger would contact you if you took the note, and he did, stepping out behind someone. The ranger is a particular, foxlike person who stood about two feet tall. That scene played out, and we moved on to the scene with the fighter.The scene with the fighter is the one I mentioned in my <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/what-is-the-point-of-gms-notes.678952/post-8227634" target="_blank">previous post</a>. I rolled randomly and picked out a couple of NPCs to join him. In addition to Jean (the fighter), there was Marie (the acrobat) and Sin Sū Ten Bren (the illusionist). Here, I used my prep to set the scene. Jean is Lawful while the others are Chaotic. Sin is straightforward and friendly while Jean is stern. Marie had just showed up for a drink and sat there because it was the only place she could sit and see the exits while keeping her back to the wall.The PCs decided to join them, and they chatted with the NPCs. Sin proffered their services, and noted (much to the consternation of the barbarian) that she was an illusionist. The PCs and the NPCs chatted about various things. The bard was quite surprised that Marie was even taller than he is, and he’s pretty tall. Eventually, after chatting a while (I’d say real time this played out between 30–60 minutes), the party decided to hire Jean and Marie but not Sin. We stopped there, just after the bard gave Marie some money to buy better gear, and she left through the window.In our Scum and Villainy game, we had a mission to retrieve a crystal. I (as a player in this game) proposed we infiltrate a party. I would seduce the person who owned the crystal while the rest of the crew would sneak inside and steal it. I would be responsible for sabotaging the network and getting any intel we needed. And that’s what happened. The GM hadn’t planned this. The players said this is what happens, and then it happened.At the party, I bailed on the plan and ended up with someone else instead. While I was having fun, I got a call from my crew: they need the passcode to the vault. I’m supposed to have gotten it. Whoops. We’re in trouble, right? Nope. Scum and Villainy (being Forged in the Dark) has a mechanic that lets me (the player) say how things are — the flashback. It turns out I had met with a disgruntled guard prior to the party and paid him off to get the codes. I gave the code to the crew, who could continue their part of the job.Some more stuff happens, and we have another situation. They got the crystal, but they’re worried about making too much noise getting it out. It’s pretty bulky, and it’s occasionally clanging off the sides of the ducts as they crawl through them. Doing my best Han Solo impersonation, I go over to the intercom and send out a compound-wide request for sexy maids to come up to the roof. Also, psht psht, there’s some interference (shoots intercom).It’s not long after the guards come up to see what is happening on the roof. I’m there in just my coat with my companion. How do I escape? That’s right, during my meeting with the guard (in the flashback), I gave him a bundle and asked him to stash it on the roof. I ran over to that, but I was taking fire and accidentally knocked it off the roof (due to rolling badly). Whoops. So I jump off the roof anyway.That drew a perplexed response from the GM. I explained that we had set up a tent, and I would be using it to break my fall. We took care of that in a flashback, and I landed successfully. I had some stun from getting shot, but I made my resist roll to avoid breaking anything in the landing. After that, I just had to concoct a scheme to get off the planet (which I did thanks to my disguise and fake papers). Fortunately, the crew was able to get the crystal out, and we got paid.What I am doing in OSE is providing the players with a sandbox. They can make decisions about what to do, but the framework is oriented towards creating a particular style of immersive play. Even though I’m not invested in an outcome and reacting to the PCs’ decisions, I’m still the one framing the scenes and deciding who is there. Their authorial voices are limited to what the PCs do. The players have little to no say on the framework itself (beyond taking actions as their PCs to effect certain situations).This is in contrast with Scum and Villainy where the system gives players tools to say that this is what’s there. If my plan needs a tent for a safe landing, then it’s going to be there. I don’t have to plan that out, we of course did it (i.e., flashback). You pay some stress, so there is a limit, but the idea is to remove the need to spend time planning and jump straight to the action.You can’t really jump straight to the action in OSE because the PCs will die. I think that’s the skillful play in the context of a sandbox that was discussed earlier in this thread. In a sense, jumping straight to the action is a failure state. What happens is a consequence of how well you planned or took steps to rig things in your favor (you never want a fair fight in OSE). And in my campaign, it’s something I use to effect an immersive style.If it’s not clear, I would not consider what I am doing in OSE to a protagonistic style of play. That’s neither good nor bad. It’s just different. I do pull in some ideas from Apocalypse World and Dungeon World. I don’t use fronts or threat maps (I find them too clunky in practice), but I love the principles and the way AW handles NPCs and relationships. It’s the primary reason I disclaim running a West Marches campaign even though there is some influence: town is not safe. I may look through crosshairs: the kobold mafia shows up in Orctown for business, and Marie is no where to be found. Whether the PCs care will depend on their relationship with her (and if I’m doing it right, I’ve got some PC-NPC-PC triangles going). But I digress.Hopefully that makes some kind of sense and that I’ve understood protagonism correctly.</blockquote>

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