Elfs and Stance

[Paganini]

I'm prepping for an Elfs game on Monday, and going over the rules something struck me. Ron talks about Elfs being an experiment in Director Stance.

But...

Don't the mechanics really put a heavy emphasis on Author Stance? Isn't that exactly what the Dumb Luck rolls are? Both actions involve *only* the rolling player's character. The one action is What The Character Wants (Actor Stance), the other roll is What The Player Wants The Character To Do (Author stance if the action is retro-justified, Pawn Stance - heh heh "Dumb Luck Stance" - if it isn't).

So, where's the Director Stance? Doesn't Director Stance mean that the player has a meta-game level of control over the shared imagination that is independant of his character?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Nathan,

Dumb Luck often drags in stuff about the situation beyond the character's actions. It doesn't have to (and in which case, yes, it's mainly Author stance), but projecting objects to trip over, contents of wine bottles, contents of pockets, and unintentionally helpful motions of NPCs do tend to show up in players' announcements for Dumb Luck actions.

The examples of Troll's Fart stumbling through the door and Spike inadvertently seducing the wizard are Author Stance, yes. But don't be afraid to let players' announcements include a bit of the game-world that wasn't there before.

Best,
Ron