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Thinking about Game Design (tm) again and how important the tone and framing of a game's systems can be to an entire game (thread):
I've had an absolute blast running Blades in the Dark by @john_harper the last few months and when trying to figure out why I think it's the absolute enormous amount of player agency baked into the system
The game asks you be extremely explicit about the stakes, difficulty, and outcomes of any given roll, in a way that might be uncomfortable for players used to a 'just roll' sort of system like dnd 5e or any other number of rpgs
it even gives players a way to mitigate failure through straight up being able to tell the GM 'no, that doesn't happen' by spending a resource (stress) or using any number of special moves on their sheet to get powerful predetermined outcomes
what this does to the tone of the entire game is just magical because by nature I've found the game is extremely collaborative in tone. Rolls feel 'fair' and never arbitrary, and the outcomes can be super impactful because everyone knows what the stakes are!
the rules of the game support a style that is about as far away from simulationism as you can get, but one that runs on narrative rules like you'd find in any other media - rules that give characters actual agency, purpose, and drive
in my last session I had a character willingly walk into a giant Hell Vault because that's what she would have done, something I think wouldn't have happened in many other systems
I think enabling this sort of play is a direct result of games like Blades being so clear about the mechanical outcomes of risk and handing players so much agency. For me it has allowed me to easily create a culture of consent and trust that's been super fun to play in
also thinking about Pbta moves here which have extremely well defined outcomes - you know what you're getting (or some form of it) before you roll
and I've also tried to carry this over to Lancer narrative play, where we establish the tone of a roll (normal, Risky, Difficult, Heroic) stakes and goals before we even roll
Anyway, I will continue to push this design in my future work. More player agency, clearer outcomes, clearer stakes = clear reason for rolls, clear consequences, a 'fair' and collaborative tone that establishes consent from the get go and creates good storytelling
