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<blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 9319217" data-attributes="member: 71699">It's interesting what one counts as a &quot;fixed scenario&quot;. Some of my favourite &quot;scenarios&quot; have come down to a setting, and some elements each with drivers. The play then is in how everything orbits and collides, with player characters as kickers and catalysts. So this is a set of fixed parameters with (at least notional) rules, that of course unfolds non-linearly. AW can have this - if you assiduously fill out threat maps and write down stakes. DW even more so.I think you are contrasting with a linear scenario. The &quot;fixed&quot; part is superfluous. Consider Jo the Violent. Whatever Jo the Violent does, they do violently. That's fixed, right? But we don't yet know what Jo is going to go on to do (only that it will be done violently.) To make Jo not fixed I would need a scheduling rule like &quot;Jo the Violent is violent on Saturday, but peaceful on Sunday&quot; or I could have Jo update based on impinging events - &quot;Jo the Violent is violent to those who are unkind to Flo, and peaceful to those who are kind to Flo&quot; - or I could have some sort of self-modification rule, etc. But then aren't those rule assignations themselves fixed? So now I would need a rule-assignation-varying rule.My point is, while I know what you were pointing toward by using &quot;fixed&quot;; when we submit that to scrutiny it turns out that the &quot;fixed&quot; part doesn't matter (or means something narrow and somewhat deceptive.)Games very often start from fixed states, and swathes of game parameters remain fixed for long periods. It's that they unfold non-linearly in virtue of the governing principles and rules-based relationships between their elements, that matters.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="clearstream, post: 9319217, member: 71699"] It's interesting what one counts as a "fixed scenario". Some of my favourite "scenarios" have come down to a setting, and some elements each with drivers. The play then is in how everything orbits and collides, with player characters as kickers and catalysts. So this is a set of fixed parameters with (at least notional) rules, that of course unfolds non-linearly. AW can have this - if you assiduously fill out threat maps and write down stakes. DW even more so. I think you are contrasting with a [B]linear scenario[/B]. The "fixed" part is superfluous. Consider Jo the Violent. Whatever Jo the Violent does, they do violently. That's fixed, right? But we don't yet know what Jo is going to go on to do (only that it will be done violently.) To make Jo not fixed I would need a scheduling rule like "Jo the Violent is violent on Saturday, but peaceful on Sunday" or I could have Jo update based on impinging events - "Jo the Violent is violent to those who are unkind to Flo, and peaceful to those who are kind to Flo" - or I could have some sort of self-modification rule, etc. But then aren't those rule assignations themselves fixed? So now I would need a rule-assignation-varying rule. My point is, while I know what you were pointing toward by using "fixed"; when we submit that to scrutiny it turns out that the "fixed" part doesn't matter (or means something narrow and somewhat deceptive.) Games very often start from fixed states, and swathes of game parameters remain fixed for long periods. It's that they unfold non-linearly in virtue of the governing principles and rules-based relationships between their elements, that matters. [/QUOTE]

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