My choice threads about Creative Agenda

[Moreno R.]

For years, most of the theory threads here were about the Creative Agenda concept.  What almost stopped these discussions here at the Forge was the requirement, after the closing of the theory sub-forums in  2006, to talk about it in terms of actual play only, with actual play examples and talking about one own actual play experience.

It's a pity that a lot of people stopped talking about it in fear of there requirements: it's really the only way to understand the concept. I hope that most people stopped because they had their questions already answered in one of these threads, but I am not optimistic about it.

Before the closing of the Forge, I would like to get a list of the most useful of these threads, the threads that really help understand Creative Agenda in a precise actual play contest.  I don't want a list of the thread where the concept was born and refined (I would like a list like that, but it should be written by someone who was here at the time), I want a list of thread that explain CAs, using actual play examples.

In this post I will list the thread that were the most useful to me, but different threads are useful for different persons. If you remember a thread that made you say "This is what Creative Agenda is all about? But it's obvious! Why didn't I see it before?" that is not listed here, please post the link.

The list:

This is the Big One: Ron explain CAs, the universe, and everything. If you read only two threads in this post, read these two. After six years still the clearest explanation of "Story Now" and CAs and their place in the Big Model that you can find:
Frostfolk and GNS aggravation
[Frostfolk] Carrying on

These two threads inspired similar ones, by different people with different games and different CAs.  This one is about a "Step on up" example:
[Rifts] GNS my session
It does contain A LOT of very basic explanations about the Big Model, to dispel the misconceptions held by the thread opener. It will be useful to dispel your misconceptions, too.

This one is about "Right to Dream" Play (with even more explanations about the Big Model)
[Werewolf] complete the mission! realistically! (GNS ?)
There is an older thread about "Right to Dream", cited in the Werewolf one, that show a good example of this CA in action:
[Vampire 2E Sabbat] Of Evil and of Simulationism

These above are the threads that I kept in my favorites and that I always cite when people ask me about CAs. Ron once listed these same discussions in a lReading-List for Forge Neophytes that listed even more threads, like the following three:
Narrativist Game Design and V:tM - Questions.
HERO System, M&M and assessing incoherence
[Shadowrun] Combat Monsters ("(at least after I shooed away the trolls on the second page"),

I kept for last a different kind of example: Ron explain how he runs "Story now D&D" in a series of actual play threads (warning: don't read these if D&D discussions make you excitable, defensive or argumentative)
[D&D 3.0/3.5] The kid two houses down
[D&D 3.0/3.5] Skill combat and blood drinking
[D&D 3.0/3.5] Spells and swords: fight!
[D&D 3.0/3.5] Undead, real dead
[D&D 3.0/3.5] At long last, a dungeon
Not so generally useful as the discussions I listed previously, but they are a good example of the way you can play with any CA in any RPG, with enough drift.

modified to fix D&D links - RE

[Moreno R.]

The links to "the exchange" rpg, used and commented on the "Frostfolks" threads, don't work anymore.  You can download the game at these links, though.
The first edition (second draft) can be found here on rpg.net
The second edition (the one cited in the thread) is a free download from DrivethruRPG

Ron talks more about The Exchange 2 (and the reason why he is not using The Exchange 3) in these threads:  [The Exchange / Justifiers] The right game with the right setting and  [The Exchange / Justifiers] Great the second time around too

Other links in these threads doesn't work anymore. Usually to get the right link all you need to do is to substitute the number of the thread to the "XXXX" in this link: http://indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=XXXX

[Moreno R.]

Other two very good threads about Creative Agenda, and the difference of a CA with a set of techniques:
What's narrativist about Zero RPG?
Establishing Premise in Serenity RPG