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<blockquote data-quote="Nagol" data-source="post: 7352463" data-attributes="member: 23935">It is true I rarely get to play.&nbsp; That's more the result of being asked to run constantly.&nbsp; When I do get to play I really enjoy the luxury of inhabiting a single character.&nbsp; Often to the point where I forget about manipulating the game environment as a player (like using bennies in Deadlands or what Whimsy Card I was dealt).&nbsp; The joy of Champions is almost all the player authoring happens during character creation and between sessions for character advancement so it is easier to deal with than in the midst of play.The answer is pretty straightforward, I think.&nbsp; The lure of exploratory play is to inhabit a role to act and react as the individual would.&nbsp; See something unacceptable in the world?&nbsp; What is the character going to do about it?&nbsp; The PC has the agency to act so take a stand.&nbsp; Pick a goal and work toward it.&nbsp; Find allies, destroy enemies, gather resources and strike... What difference can one person make in the presented world? What difference does your character want to make?For strong exploratory play, the game world is much like a puzzle.&nbsp; Things that exist need to exist so that things that happen can happen for a reason for the players to accumulate sufficient information about the black box that the PCs can activate specific reactions in response to their actions.&nbsp; Exploratory play needs to suppress random 'crap happens' events because they interfere with information gathering.&nbsp; Having a single vision helps maintain the consistency of the fiction and its reaction to PC action.&nbsp; Having the players know that vision undercuts the world puzzle.Strong and distinct themes are useful in most games regardless of who injects action.&nbsp; They help the players maintain an understanding of the gaming expectation and help drive genre play.&nbsp; &nbsp; For player-led games I do need to keep a lot of &quot;empty space&quot; in the world that's ready to accept someone else's paint.&nbsp; In many ways, the player-led worlds are &quot;bigger&quot; in that the world is less knowable and its reactions to PC action cannot be learned to be used as a PC resource (they become a player resource).&nbsp; For a space opera game, I'd suggest the initial tone, expected tech, type of society, and role of the group is probably enough frame to build initially.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Nagol, post: 7352463, member: 23935"] It is true I rarely get to play. That's more the result of being asked to run constantly. When I do get to play I really enjoy the luxury of inhabiting a single character. Often to the point where I forget about manipulating the game environment as a player (like using bennies in Deadlands or what Whimsy Card I was dealt). The joy of Champions is almost all the player authoring happens during character creation and between sessions for character advancement so it is easier to deal with than in the midst of play. The answer is pretty straightforward, I think. The lure of exploratory play is to inhabit a role to act and react as the individual would. See something unacceptable in the world? What is the character going to do about it? The PC has the agency to act so take a stand. Pick a goal and work toward it. Find allies, destroy enemies, gather resources and strike... What difference can one person make in the presented world? What difference does your character want to make? For strong exploratory play, the game world is much like a puzzle. Things that exist need to exist so that things that happen can happen for a reason for the players to accumulate sufficient information about the black box that the PCs can activate specific reactions in response to their actions. Exploratory play needs to suppress random 'crap happens' events because they interfere with information gathering. Having a single vision helps maintain the consistency of the fiction and its reaction to PC action. Having the players know that vision undercuts the world puzzle. Strong and distinct themes are useful in most games regardless of who injects action. They help the players maintain an understanding of the gaming expectation and help drive genre play. For player-led games I do need to keep a lot of "empty space" in the world that's ready to accept someone else's paint. In many ways, the player-led worlds are "bigger" in that the world is less knowable and its reactions to PC action cannot be learned to be used as a PC resource (they become a player resource). For a space opera game, I'd suggest the initial tone, expected tech, type of society, and role of the group is probably enough frame to build initially. [/QUOTE]

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