I’ve been thinking about different levels of engagement a lot over the recent years. I actually think that’s pretty much a normal occurrence: one of the players might be tired or distracted, someone might be needing the escapism a bit more, someone may not be as invested in a particular game but still participate because their friends want to play it, and so on. I think that a game needs to accommodate this, either by giving different roles to players based on this, or by still working fine if some players just roll dice and others really get into the narration (and/or emotion).

In my designs, Anima Prime is an example of the latter: conflicts still work if some players just put in little effort and roll dice while others narrate fancy stunts or character passions and reap benefits for that. Meridian is an example of the prior: some players will have secondary roles that they can either stick to, to have smaller parts to play, or they can choose to move up to playing a more central character if they’re so engaged.