Narrative drive vs narrative opportunism.
First: disclaimers!
I get, uhm...really fatigued with "grand unified theories" in TTRPg design - diff games, diff brains - so I deal with lenses...
I wont be spending a lot of time arguing about the validity of the lens, but happy to talk about the particulars of the lens. I am OK if you don't "get it"....maybe next time!
OK, disclaimers done.
Narrative drive: the systems and rewards that encourage a player to move towards and create certain situations and events.
Narrative opportunism: systems and rewards that encourage you to wait for specific events/situations.
It can also take place at the micro: being rewarded for a certain position in combat encourages you to seek that position out.
A lot of the joy in playing TTRPGs is from being able to choose an approach or direction and being able to express that choice to a reasonable degree of effectiveness.
Strong but narrow drives discourage expressiveness.
If narrative drive is "do this", narrative opportunism is "watch for this".
Opportunism rewards situational awareness and offers variation in events.
Rather than working to establish events, you modify or react to events that are happening.
But, uh, here is the bad news. Narrative opportunism is really hard to design well.
- shooting a laser
- recovering when you are thrown out of an airlock
Same bonuses but one situation happens more often than the other.
The other, bigger problem? The brain can only remember so many of these opportunities at one time.
The more of these you have to remember, as well as juggle rules and oh yeah the fiction itself, the harder it is to make use of narrative opportunities.
Exhibit A: ye olde classic ranger. Classic design was a narrative opportunity - whenever you fight your favored enemy, you get dope bonuses. Great, but the rest of the time....oof.
Enter the Modern Ranger (can we make this a magazine please?).
Making the reward bigger imprints it your mind so you are less likely to forget when that moment comes...
Using "thrown out of an airlock" opp, if the bonus is good enough, I might provoke enemies to make the opportunity happen:
"What are you going to do? Throw me out an airlock? Do it, you coward"
I have more to say on this, but work calls!
Thanks for reading.