This post has me thinking about a lot of different things, not just our present game. So I'll try to break up my reactions in comments:
It's really counterintuitive. The idea that by limiting story options you increase them is a strange one! But, I feel that most players, when faced with an unknown expanse to play in, will sit down and play with their personal toys rather than going out and interacting with the world.
Yes, Yes! YES! I'm totally ripping this off[1] right now but constraints breed creativity. I think this is why PTA is so magical. You set up the show and pretty much decide what's going to happen in the show before you ever start playing. But because you've built such a tight sandbox, people ask themselves the very interesting question of "What would a lifer salesperson do when a new owner buys the story I've been working at for 30 years and starts making changes to HIS store?" as opposed to the very boring question of "Where can I go to show that I'm a bad ass with a sword?"
If nothing else comes out of this post I hope you keep thinking along these lines as I think they will yield richer and richer stories.
[1] Primary source for this is Paul Tevis's "Have Games Will Travel". I can't recall the episodes now but in a few of them he talks a lot about this and I totally dig it.
It's really counterintuitive. The idea that by limiting story options you increase them is a strange one! But, I feel that most players, when faced with an unknown expanse to play in, will sit down and play with their personal toys rather than going out and interacting with the world.
Yes, Yes! YES! I'm totally ripping this off[1] right now but constraints breed creativity. I think this is why PTA is so magical. You set up the show and pretty much decide what's going to happen in the show before you ever start playing. But because you've built such a tight sandbox, people ask themselves the very interesting question of "What would a lifer salesperson do when a new owner buys the story I've been working at for 30 years and starts making changes to HIS store?" as opposed to the very boring question of "Where can I go to show that I'm a bad ass with a sword?"
If nothing else comes out of this post I hope you keep thinking along these lines as I think they will yield richer and richer stories.
[1] Primary source for this is Paul Tevis's "Have Games Will Travel". I can't recall the episodes now but in a few of them he talks a lot about this and I totally dig it.
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