benlehman

You can get to that storytelling point, but still have a system in place, and one that has massive impact on the game while still requiring no dice and little "game time". Here's the system doc written by a mutual friend of benlehman and myself:

"Wane's system is called Unlimited Action. It's a diceless narrative system; the mechanics of the game world themselves are effectively run systemless, while Unlimited Action allows the player to influence the events of the narrative and the direction that the story takes by spending development points. Spent development points are usually recovered between sessions. A player may increase his/her maximum development points through expenditure -- the more actively a player influences the story, the more leeway that player has in the future.

What can be done with development points? Well, almost anything, but to achieve more significant effects (change long-term story arc, alter something that has already happened, flagrantly violate the laws of physics) more DPs will have to be spent. Only sometimes will the exact desired result be achieved; more often, the requested outcome will be worked into the existing narrative somehow. But the player's request, weighted according to DPs spent, is always taken into account.

There's one more aspect to the system. DPs that have been spent need not be recovered in the normal manner; rather, it's possible to "trap" DPs that were used towards an outcome in a category related to that outcome. There are four types of categories; aspects are adjectives, affinities are nouns, paths are adverbs and prepositional phrases, and knacks are verbs. So, for example, suppose that Bernardo had spent three DPs to help his character, Ishmael, evade an incoming hail of bullets. At the end of the session, when he would ordinarily recover those three DPs, he could instead choose to trap one of them in the "Dodge" knack. Or all three of them. Or he could trap two in the "Bullet" affinity and recover the third normally. Or he could trap one in "By running", one in "Quickly", and one in "Distant". On the other hand, it wouldn't make sense for him to trap all three points in the "Noodle" affinity, as noodles just weren't involved in the event.

What's the advantage in trapping DPs? Well, trapped DPs recover much more quickly (at the end of each scene, rather than each session). But they can only be spent toward outcomes related to their name. In most cases, an affinity in "Bullet" could not be used to find food. One last thing about Unlimited Action -- trapped DPs exert a passive influence on the story, as well, even if they are never spent. Especially if they are never spent. Taking an affinity in "Death" means that, one way or another, death will find its way into your character's story. The less often those trapped points are spent, the more noticeably this will be the case.

The nice thing about this system is that, over the course of many sessions, players begin to be defined by the steps they have taken towards changing the story and the ways in which they have influenced it. As they become more closely defined, they become more able to alter specific aspects of the narrative."

I believe he refined this system for another game that he ran.

Be well.