Hey, Vincent! I've been reading the recent threads, and something occurred to me.
I seem to recall your describing some of your old Ars Magica freeformish games as being negotiated mechanics. Like, the group hits a situation and then says, "Why don't we roll off for it. I'll roll 1d12 and you roll 1d10, because I have superior social rank." Then, if everyone agrees, it becomes the standard, until the group adjusts this rule again.
Based on what you've been writing recently, it seems to me that that IaWA really needs to be played with this understanding. The printed rules are the seed for a group to develop its own version of IaWA, like you did with Ars Magica. Am I totally bonkers here? Or am I getting it?
Uh, bonkers.
That's how certain aspects of negotiation work, but that's not, like, the game.
-Vincent
*Laugh*
Okay, thanks!
That's a good answer for me from Vincent. If he'd answered "Of course, all games should do this, and all mechanics should be constantly maleable" I'd have been done with IAWA. The game is valuable to me precisely to the extent that it's done the job of comig up with good rules and given them to me to use as tools. To the extent that I have to create my own game... well I can just do that... from scratch...
Mike