Recent content by pemerton

Yes, this is true. I think it's quite different from actually having the story manifest during play.

I'm not entirely sure what you have in mind. I mean, yes, you'll get a series of events that occur. But is that all you mean?

I'm not sure what you mean by "what player choices or actions are curtailed?" I mean, the most straightforward answer is none. But presumably that's not the answer you're looking for? In conventional D&D play, what sorts of actions are curtailed or prohibited? Well, if the rules tell you that...

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...