GMs, It's not Your Story - It's the Players' Story

How Emergent Storytelling Provides Story Without Destroying Agency

For this week’s video, I initially shot a talk about the aesthetic theory of essentialism, and how it relates to the agency theory of fun. However, I decided that two weeks in a row of high-brow philosophizing might be too much of a good thing. Instead, then, I turned to the more hands-on and practical matter of storytelling in RPGs.

Check it out here:

Meanwhile, work continues to progress nicely on the upcoming ACKS Imperial Imprint (ACKS II), which is being re-designed to make full use of the techniques for agency-focused sandbox gaming that I describe in Arbiter of Worlds. My hope is that if you’re a GM who has found my blog or YT channel useful, you’re going to find ACKS II to be your taste. ACKS II will be crowdfunding this summer, with sneak previews on my Patreon including complete drafts for King-tier and above.

That’s all for now — Don’t forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel, then head over to the links below for others ways to get involved in my recently-declared Simulationist culture movement. If you’re already a fan, be kind and spread the word!

• Autarch Discord with the smartest, nicest gamers around

• ACKS Patreon with sneak previews of ACKS II every month

• Ascendant Patreon with a new character and story hook every month

• Autarch Facebook page with news and updates about our projects

• Autarch Twitter channel with brief comments and witty quirks

• Ascendant Comics Facebook page with sneak previews of the upcoming comics

• Ascendant Comics Instagram page with tons of art and cosplay

• Ascendant Comics Twitter channel with short messages and quirky wit

• ACKS Forums with discussion for the game

• Ascendant Forums with FAQ and Errata for the game

Thanks for reading Arbiter of Worlds!