Hey everyone,

Im a player/gm currently using the Riddle of Steel game, and ive never really read inot any of the other forums around here. I didnt have much time to browse around, but i was wondering what exactly is meant by the terms Gamist/Narrativism/Simulationism. Can anyone give me a quick lowdown of what these games are like and their characteristics?

Thanks,
SMB

Hey, SMB.

Check out the Articles section, linked at the top of the page. It's quite a bit of reading, but worth it if you want to start on the whole GNS thing.
The relavent articles are "System Does Matter" "GNS and Other Matters of Role Playing" and the three articles for each of the three creative agendas.

Ironically the three seperate GNS articles on the three types are probably an easier read than the first two. The theory and terminology has developed somewhat from System Does Matter and GNS and other Matters of Roleplaying Theory If you have a hard time with the terms you can also look at the Provisional Glossery which does a pretty good job of explaining them. If you want something less academic you might check out MJ's article Applied Theory

Riddle is widly viewed as a Narrativist game with extensive Simulationist support. (although there are some debates as to exaclty where it falls, this is the generally agreed classification.) I'm pretty sure Jake wrote it before knowing anything about the theory.

Its the SA's as the heart of Riddle's system that makes it a narrativist game. Narrativism is all about players address a problematic human issue (called a Premise in narrativist theory) For Riddle, the best interpretation of the game's premise I've heard is "What would you die for?" and Its converse "What is worth killing (and risking death) for?"

The players decide the answer to that question both by assigning and playing through SA's.

The sim aspects of Riddle lie mainly in its detailed combat system which tries to give the player a good feel for the danger and tactics of person to person melee combat.

Trevis