[Sorcerer]Sandbox
jburneko:
Azalin,
Speaking for my own play of Sorcerer it tends to go back and forth. What happens is that I as the GM hit the players with situation pretty hard at the beginning. However, remember that players author their own Kickers so that first situation I hit them with is of their own devising (sometimes with a little extra spice provided by me). I keep hitting the players with situations (moving from bang to bang) until they decide they have something proactive they want to do.
The the process is almost literally reversed where the players keep hitting me with stuff they're running off to do and I respond to it. Eventually, they run out of ideas or steam and I need to re-spike things by hitting them with another wave of situations. Back-and-forth, Back-and-forth.
The only thing that I would point out is that this back-and-forth isn't so open ended as to be describable as "mini-adventures." It's usually all one story arc that begins with the Kicker with expands outward into a more general situation that is organized around the other elements of the characters and the Humanity definition that eventually resolves. That moment of resolution is NOT pre-planned but it does all eventually come to a conclusion.
My scenarios last from about four to six sessions and are about the size of the Day of Dupes example.
Jesse
AzaLiN:
well said... thanks Jesse!
And holy cow- fast reply!
Ron Edwards:
I may be muddying the waters with my own interpretation/use of the term "sandbox," but as I see it, such play isn't even happening for real until there's an active 'dance' of providing react-to-this input between players and GM, and among the individual players too, in which "who leads" is frankly not even designated any more. We're all pretty much merely playing our characters at that point, and there's enough history, and enough dynamic consequence in progress, that any action taken makes things more interesting and prompts something somewhere to happen.
The way you're phrasing it, though, sounds a bit more like playing catch with a flaccid ball. Yes, we can throw it back and forth, but it stops at each person, and all the energy with which it is thrown to the next person comes from the thrower. Imagine instead playing with a bouncey ball and never really having it stop. Sure, the GM and any given player have differing tasks/authority about what they say happens, but you can't really talk about who's leading any more.
I hope it's clear that there is no "the story" in terms of pre-decision, pre-action considerations.
Best, Ron
Abkajud:
Azalin,
That's a great realization to have! :) I first had an "a-ha!" moment like the one you're describing after reading, you guessed it, Sorcerer and Sword. Things have played out pretty differently for me since, and I've actually found my way into Story Now territory, but, as you can see in this thread (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=15621.msg166768#msg166768), I (I'm Bob the Fighter) had to get my head around player-driven action before I could find my way onto genuinely Narrativist turf.
This is also a great way of "getting it" and then realizing "wow, Nar is not at all complicated". As pointed out for me right here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=15621.msg166779#msg166779, there's a difference between Sim with Kickers and high player Credibility and player-decision-driven plot, and actual Narrativism. No Premise, and (arguably) no mechanics that lend themselves to it, no Nar. But I really feel that getting used to much more dynamic players is a necessary step on your way to Story Now play.
For that matter, if I were to find myself in really player-centered Sim, I could probably live there and be happy. After years and years of railroading and Black Curtain crap (goddamned GM screens...), having my play-decisions matter was a transformative experience. That sort of thing creates Sandbox all by itself, I think, but once you get into a more structured plot (even if that means Kickers and such; player-provided structure), you leave behind the goal of Sandbox, which I think is Sim incarnate: "I want to run around and explore this cool world, with as much stuff to do as possible and no 'walls'."
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