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<blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 9317873" data-attributes="member: 16586">I have seen &quot;narrative game&quot; used to refer to:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fairly traditional games that utilize some sort of GM side meta-currency to enact narrative changes or power NPC special abilities (2d20, Year Zero Engine games like Coriolis, FATE, FFG Star Wars)</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Games that use free descriptor tags instead of defined skill lists (13th Age, FATE, Cortex, Numenera)</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fairly traditional games that put as much emphasis on modeling mental and emotional states as they do physical ones (Legend of the Five Rings Fifth Edition, Pendragon, Vampire)</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Games that are fundamentally about exploring a premise (Sorcerer, Burning Wheel, Apocalypse World, Masks) and use some sort of GM directed scene framing to keep play on premise.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Games that model explicit narrative structures (Hillfolk, Gumshoe)</li>
</ul>It's really a grab bag of very different concepts smushed into a singular category that says more about what it isn't than what it is. My own opposition to the way it gets thrown around has been 3-fold:<ol>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">It's often used as a &quot;those games are unclean&quot; label.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">If we move everything folks want to binge into &quot;narrative game&quot; outside of &quot;traditional roleplaying game&quot; than we basically just end up with GURPS, D&amp;D, Traveller, Rolemaster, Runequest* and maybe HERO*. Pretty much every game designed from 1990 on would not be included.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ol">Having such a wide array of games under a singular label that function in phenomenally different ways leads to a massive amount of confusion and flanderizing of how games actually function. The amount of misinformation about games this entails is massive. This is not fundamentally different in orientation to the criticism that many people have about Simulation being too broad of a category.</li>
</ol>Now Daggerheart does take elements from several of the above bullet points, but that does not mean that &quot;narrative game&quot; as a broad category makes much sense to me.* Even these are a bit of a stretch depending on character options and/or editions.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Campbell, post: 9317873, member: 16586"] I have seen "narrative game" used to refer to: [LIST] [*]Fairly traditional games that utilize some sort of GM side meta-currency to enact narrative changes or power NPC special abilities (2d20, Year Zero Engine games like Coriolis, FATE, FFG Star Wars) [*]Games that use free descriptor tags instead of defined skill lists (13th Age, FATE, Cortex, Numenera) [*]Fairly traditional games that put as much emphasis on modeling mental and emotional states as they do physical ones (Legend of the Five Rings Fifth Edition, Pendragon, Vampire) [*]Games that are fundamentally about exploring a premise (Sorcerer, Burning Wheel, Apocalypse World, Masks) and use some sort of GM directed scene framing to keep play on premise. [*]Games that model explicit narrative structures (Hillfolk, Gumshoe) [/LIST] It's really a grab bag of very different concepts smushed into a singular category that says more about what it isn't than what it is. My own opposition to the way it gets thrown around has been 3-fold: [LIST=1] [*]It's often used as a "those games are unclean" label. [*]If we move everything folks want to binge into "narrative game" outside of "traditional roleplaying game" than we basically just end up with GURPS, D&D, Traveller, Rolemaster, Runequest* and maybe HERO*. Pretty much every game designed from 1990 on would not be included. [*]Having such a wide array of games under a singular label that function in phenomenally different ways leads to a massive amount of confusion and flanderizing of how games actually function. The amount of misinformation about games this entails is massive. This is not fundamentally different in orientation to the criticism that many people have about Simulation being too broad of a category. [/LIST] Now Daggerheart does take elements from several of the above bullet points, but that does not mean that "narrative game" as a broad category makes much sense to me. * Even these are a bit of a stretch depending on character options and/or editions. [/QUOTE]

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