Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 8244397" data-attributes="member: 85555">I agree we are at an impasse here: I don't agree that 'GM decides' is the system though. Again, I think your side keeps trying to reduce it to 'gm decides', 'gm says', but there is a lot more interplay going on, as described, there is a lot more organically unfolding. If you reduce it to that one thing, you wouldn't be able to discern the difference between a railroad or a sandbox. However I don't think there is much point in beating this disagreement into the ground further. But I would agree we disagree on whether the living world is something that can be achieved. I get that you guys are pushing back. You pushing back doesn't mean you are right. In fact I think you are very wrong on this account. And I think what it really boils down to is a playstyle divide Again I think the position that 'living world isn't viable' is about as sensical as 'BitD isn't an RPG': it is an argument that is really intended to dismiss a style of play one dislikes, one sees as a threat, etc. I say not only are living worlds viable, but that BitD living worlds should also be a thing. I am sure it might be different if the system complicates any of the living world principles I've discussed (and I will leave it to BitD fans to decide if the system does or not. But I see no reason why we can't have trad system living world sandboxes, BitD living world sandboxes, PbtA living world sandboxes, etc. I do think in some systems it will be trickier. One reason I made the distinction between the world and 'the fiction/the scene/the stuff' is when I ran Drama System, that game doesn't distinguish as much between setting and scene and you would need to account for that (whereas in a traditional living world sandbox the setting is treated as a very concrete and separate thing). So distinctions do matter so peoples expectations can be met and the system can function properly in the sandbox, but I am more excited by the possibility of sandboxes flourishing in a variety of systems and styles than being locked into one. However I did come away from this with one good thing, which is the description of a living sandbox as playing in a setting where NPCs and factions are imaginary pieces with volition that act at will. It is simplistic and only captures one part of it, but it was a way of depicting the style that had not occurred to me before.</blockquote>

Verification