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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7404270" data-attributes="member: 82106">Its a contentious topic here apparently...There IS IN FACT a school of RPG technique (and games designed specifically to support it) which are often called 'Story Now' and/or 'No Myth' games. You'll find good descriptions along the way, but the general concept is that only the most basic of facts are established at the start of play. USUALLY the players construct back stories for their characters in some fashion. This often also includes what they believe, want, what pushed them into the condition of being a character in the story, etc. The GM then 'frames a scene' (describes where the characters are and what they see) which puts pressure on their beliefs, threatens their goals, gives them an opportunity they want, etc. The players then, in character, act on their goals/beliefs/whatever and declare actions for their PCs. The action declaration includes what they want to accomplish (what success looks like) and, possibly depending on the game system, what failure would look like. Next the GM makes a choice:1) The action succeeds - This is usually the case if the action doesn't really change the situation or address anything dramatically meaningful. It could also be the case where failure would not be interesting (IE if you need to pass through the secret door to find the hidden temple and that's the whole point of being where you are, then you simply find it). 2) The action requires a check - The GM can let the dice decide. In this case if the check fails, then the failure happens, otherwise the character succeeds. Some resources may be expended either way, etc. again depending on the details of the system being used.Finally the GM will describe what happens next. This probably means further projecting the course of the fiction in light of failure/success, and advancing the fiction, either within the current scene or on to an entirely new scene if the old one has played out.This process simply repeats. The GM might frame a whole new scene after describing how the last one finished up, or there might be some sort of 'interlude' where the players can do less dramatic things like travel to a new place, gather resources, etc. In terms of 5e...5e isn't described in terms of playing in this way. It is certainly possible, but the game proposes a 'classical' concept of play where the DM makes a 'dungeon' and the players make choices for their PCs, but don't have any input into the consequences of their actions, beyond informal character advocacy (I note that the 'Inspiration' rule in 5e is an exception to this, if you use it). 4e was closer to being Story Now in its architecture. 'Say yes or roll the dice' was pretty close to being a rule, 'go to the action' was a constant theme, and a lot of the mechanical structure lent itself easily to Story Now techniques.</blockquote>

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