Recent content by pemerton

None of the games that I mentioned enforce a 3/5 act structure. As to 'what do you give up?", I don't really follow the question. They're games, they have rules.

Well, on this we fundamentally disagree. Games like Maelstrom Storytelling, HeroWars/Quest, Sorcerer, The Riddle of Steel, Burning Wheel, Apocalypse World - as well as some earlier proto-examples, like Prince Valiant and Over the Edge - make huge innovations in RPG design. The rules...

The relationship between (i) resolution mechanics and (ii) the capacity of a RPG to yield story without anyone having to author story can be illustrated by comparing some combat mechanics (which are a very popular sort of RPG mechanic). In classic D&D (the original game, B/X, and AD&D) the...

You won't get a story out of AD&D 2nd ed, played according to the rules - that is, protagonists in a conflict with rising action, and climax/resolution - unless someone authors it. Dragonlance (which I know predates AD&D 2nd ed, but is something like a harbinger for it) and contemporary D&D...

Nearly 16 years ago, Eero Tuovinen wrote this: Here’s how games like Sorcerer, Dogs in the Vineyard, some varieties of Heroquest, The Shadow of Yesterday, Mountain Witch, Primetime Adventures and more games than I care to name all work: <snip a very good account of the game procedures/"play...

There's no "collaborative storytelling" in Sorcerer or Apocalypse World, if played in the way the rulebooks set out. For instance, from AW (p 109 of the original rulebook): Apocalypse World divvies the conversation up in a strict and pretty traditional way. The players’ job is to say what...

To me, it seems that you're not fully responding to the bits that I've bolded: The worry about "do I want to find out if I can be as lucky as Joe?" seems appropriate to an early D&D luck-based dungeon. Lewis Pulsipher wrote about this in White Dwarf 45-odd years ago. But I don't really feel its...

This post is a re-post from another active thread. Given that it is all about TB2e actual play, I thought I'd repost it here. A post about Apocalypse World procedures made me think about an episode of Torchbearer 2e GMing this weekend, when the PCs went to the tavern in a village, and so I had...

I dunno about the players, but over the years I've found a variety of RPGs that don't have the lack of depth/stability that you describe: Rolemaster, 4e D&D, Marvel Heroic RP, Burning Wheel, Torchbearer 2e, and others.

I tend to think Be fans of the players' characters is fairly clear. That's not to say that it's especially, let alone narrowly, prescriptive. It leaves a lot of room for decision-making. (Which I think is deliberate.) But I think it's fairly clear what it does or doesn't permit. I think what it...

@thefutilist Your post just upthread, about AW procedures, made me think about an episode of Torchbearer 2e GMing this weekend, when the PCs went to the tavern in a village, and so I had to roll on the Tavern Rumours table. The results were: 7 Sudden appearance. Your friend, bedraggled and...

Here's another example from cards: One way to lose a hand of bridge or five hundred is to get unlucky in the deal. If I'm dealt four suits, with none greater than 3 or 4 length, and no card higher than a 10, I'm probably not going to win the hand. (And for the five hundred players out there...

We've had all sorts of town phases in my game. Some like what you describe, some more successful for the players (and PCs). Probably the thing the players feel the most is the constant pressure on their gear.

Here's a brief episode of RPG play: My PC arrived at the dungeon entrance, and went down the stairs. There were two Orc guards waiting at the bottom, and they attacked me! They drove me off, and I had to run back to the village to look for help. But all that happened was that the villagers...

It's certainly possible! The players in my game feel that it is absolutely brutal. Because of the way things have played out, they've had no loot for ages (a couple of 2D or so hauls in the past 6 or so sessions), so they're paying for everything on their raw Resources. The two Elves have no...