Recent content by Manbearcat

Well, you know my position is that "the idea of writers' room" in Blades in the Dark isn't remotely legitimate. Its about as illegitimate a position as one I've seen because the key feature that makes up the formulation just isn't there (its entirely the opposite). And this gets to why I end...

The above might look and play very much like a writers' room, pending how obliging the "live negotiation and honest collaboration" are. Now the upshot of this here above; the purposeful introduction and attendant dynamic-altering of the unwelcome and the unwanted upon play via "system's say?"...

As far as I can tell, what you've done here is the following: 1) You've turned a proper noun (the specific, named concept of Story Before coined by The Forge) and transmuted it into a common noun (story before) that you're now coining for usage of a very general concept. 2) You're...

Goal: Convince the dragon of its terrible fate and to abandon that course when it comes to it, thus preventing the dark future of the dragon, the mother, and the infant. DCs 16/22/31 2/6 Successes (0 Hard DC available)/0 Failures/2 Secondary Skill Available/0 Advantage) The foliage whispers...

Whether what I've written is what @thefutilist means is TBD (I'll let them agree, disagree, clarify). Its my best inference. However, yes, that is what Narrativist games attend to in their design and their play; focusing on and resolving the game's premise & theme-based collisions of the...

Let me see if I can clarify your post the futilist, because it seems like there might be some confusion on what you're saying. It seems like you're using "emergent narrative" a tad idiosyncratically here. Let me know if I've got you right? 1) "What narrative has emerged from a game" is always...

I think it here is referring to 4e D&D? My sense of the game is as follows: * Player-authored Quests + Goal & Stakes-driven noncombat conflict resolution w/ table-facing resolution governed by fail forward/change the situation-state upon resolution + the the deep theme & premise loading of the...

That is probably happening for sure. Though I don't explicitly outline it, my post above is meant to be about the relationship of design priorities and usage (just as Forge analysis entails the relationship of play priorities, attendant design, and actual play...striving for synthesis of the...

Wow. Shocked. This is actually a really good thread with wide and varied contribution. I was certain this was going to be an absolute, 0-200 MPH trainwreck when I saw the title and then saw the very predictable early responses. Pleasantly surprised. A trio of thoughts on art vs creative...

XP * SC level 12/Comp 1 = 700/2 = 350 apiece. LOOT * Gain 1 Advantage forward for this conflict. The world of the five heroes hurtles toward a temporal event horizon until it crosses that threshold, leaving this continuity behind. Within this new (old) space, which represents the timeline...

Are you using mechanics and system interchangeably here? If so, there is the problem. System includes ethos & principles (which necessarily entail goals/meta of play), structure, authority distribution, techniques, and mechanics (resolution, advancement, etc). Mechanics are the portion of a...