Stars Without Number, def puts the creative load on the GM. Not only with the setting, but the nebulous rulings you have to do to keep the game rolling. I def favor prep being procedural and played out at the table.

I totally get how M:Y0 keeps the focus on the players; with the R-web, custom arks, and bosses. I’m curious how The One Ring focuses on the players. Is the ‘Sandplot’ that flexible in TOR? Because with so much setting already set in stone with TOR, it feels familiar to Stars Without Number. (I swear I’m not trying to start a fight, just working a thought out loud.)

And now that I’ve thought it through, I guess the answer is the shadow points. That the story is way more about these characters succumbing to their darker nature, than whatever is going on in the greater world.

So a ‘sandplot’ is like a metaplot that allows for character stories to shine through? Where would Pendragon fall on this spectrum? Is Pendragon’s metaplot too controlling? Because there isn’t much resistance to character death in Pendragon, or M:y0, (recalling a failed jump check) does that detract from the character stories?