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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 9316554" data-attributes="member: 87792">This all runs into my textbook &quot;People who seldom play narrative games talking about them&quot; filter. Apocalypse World is pretty clearly a superb narrative game - but it has neither &quot;Narrative mechanics&quot; or &quot;freeform resolution&quot;. (And neither does it have [USER=7006]@DEFCON 1[/USER] 's categorisation; combat has its own distinctive suite of mechanics, especially in AW2e)My flag for narrative games is &quot;How do characters grow?&quot; If character growth is purely &quot;Numbers go up linear&quot; with most of character development being set very early on (with the textbook example being a D&amp;D fighter) it is definitely not narrative. If it's mostly skill growth and based on what you do (e.g. WoD XP to raise whichever skills you choose) it probably isn't. If character transformation is both expected and open ended (e.g. the Gunlugger becoming the Hardholder or the Hardholder packing it in to become a Gunlugger) it almost certainly is - as it is in a game with a limited story where the characters can't really be used again (e.g. My Life With Master because they're dead or escaped).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 9316554, member: 87792"] This all runs into my textbook "People who seldom play narrative games talking about them" filter. [I]Apocalypse World[/I] is pretty clearly a superb narrative game - but it has neither "Narrative mechanics" or "freeform resolution". (And neither does it have [USER=7006]@DEFCON 1[/USER] 's categorisation; combat has its own distinctive suite of mechanics, especially in AW2e) My flag for narrative games is "How do characters grow?" If character growth is purely "Numbers go up linear" with most of character development being set very early on (with the textbook example being a D&D fighter) it is definitely not narrative. If it's mostly skill growth and based on what you do (e.g. WoD XP to raise whichever skills you choose) it probably isn't. If character transformation is both expected and open ended (e.g. the Gunlugger becoming the Hardholder or the Hardholder packing it in to become a Gunlugger) it almost certainly is - as it is in a game with a limited story where the characters can't really be used again (e.g. My Life With Master because they're dead or escaped). [/QUOTE]

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