Adam D I don’t think that’s it, no. I mean Brand may be right, and NW is based on fiction that I just haven’t read enough of, but the game itself (absent my knowledge of its cliches) prompts me and my players to think and act directly on its fictional prompts: what might I give up if I really need to eat? What does it feel like to feel emotionally bonded to these strangers?

The tropes-y games, I feel like we act more on the expectations of the genre: this is the part where we discover the rich guy is secretly a wizard and is trying to ensorcel the city; this is where I make a little speech about how we’re fighting against evil but must succumb to evil (and then stop, laugh, drink our beer).

That stuff feels structural in terms of move and economy design, but maybe I’m just naive and if I could see the tropes then I, too, would be laughing/drinking my way through the NKVD interrogations where once again my hot lesbian girlfriend is being threatened if I don’t do as I’m told.