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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7330568" data-attributes="member: 42582">Best of White Dwarf Scenarios (vol 1) has scenarios for three systems: D&amp;D, RQ and Traveller. Volume 2 has scenarios for D&amp;D and Traveller only.Traveller and RQ were niche only in the sense that they weren't D&amp;D.Most contemporary D&amp;D play is not &quot;hidden design&quot; in [MENTION=3192]howandwhy99[/MENTION]'s sense. Just to give one example: in hidden design play the ability to try again is crucial: you can go back into the dungeon and have another go (at mapping and thus unravelling the maze; at working out the solution to the green devil face or the orange mist; etc). But very few contemporary D&amp;D adventures are based around retries like that - they are one-way trips through a series of episodes/scenes.I think that the bigger the &quot;sandbox&quot;, and so the more that the players rely on the GM to present them with bits of it, to make bits of it salient, etc; then the less agency they have, because their cognitive access to the materials they need to beat the challenges (related to&nbsp; [MENTION=23935]Nagol[/MENTION]'s comments uptrhead about &quot;levers&quot;) becomes dependent on the GM.Part of the cleverness of the dungeon idea is that the parameters (geography; social relations between NPCs/monsters; the possible subject matter of clues found; etc) are confined, so that the players can learn stuff and reliably act upon it.Conversely, if, in the fiction, everything is connected to everything, so that pulling on one &quot;string&quot; gives the GM licence to evolve the whole of the fictional situation as s/he thinks appropriate, in ways that aren't even in principle able to be known by the players, then I think the players' agency is considerably reduced.Because I don't know the details of your game, I'm not making any judgement about agency or otherwise in your game. What I am doing is trying to explain what I think are some practical limits on running what&nbsp; [MENTION=3192]howandwhy99[/MENTION] has called a &quot;hidden design&quot; game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7330568, member: 42582"] Best of White Dwarf Scenarios (vol 1) has scenarios for three systems: D&D, RQ and Traveller. Volume 2 has scenarios for D&D and Traveller only. Traveller and RQ were niche [I]only[/I] in the sense that they weren't D&D. Most contemporary D&D play is not "hidden design" in [MENTION=3192]howandwhy99[/MENTION]'s sense. Just to give one example: in hidden design play the ability to [I]try again[/I] is crucial: you can go back into the dungeon and have another go (at mapping and thus unravelling the maze; at working out the solution to the green devil face or the orange mist; etc). But very few contemporary D&D adventures are based around retries like that - they are one-way trips through a series of episodes/scenes. I think that the bigger the "sandbox", and so the more that the players rely on the GM to present them with bits of it, to make bits of it salient, etc; then the less agency they have, because their cognitive access to the materials they need to beat the challenges (related to [MENTION=23935]Nagol[/MENTION]'s comments uptrhead about "levers") becomes dependent on the GM. Part of the cleverness of the dungeon idea is that the parameters (geography; social relations between NPCs/monsters; the possible subject matter of clues found; etc) are confined, so that the players can learn stuff and reliably act upon it. Conversely, if, in the fiction, everything is connected to everything, so that pulling on one "string" gives the GM licence to evolve the whole of the fictional situation as s/he thinks appropriate, in ways that aren't even in principle able to be known by the players, then I think the players' agency is considerably reduced. Because I don't know the details of your game, I'm not making any judgement about agency or otherwise in your game. What I am doing is trying to explain what I think are some practical limits on running what [MENTION=3192]howandwhy99[/MENTION] has called a "hidden design" game. [/QUOTE]

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