>From: bethexton_at_...
>So as things start, you are all camped out on the beach near
>Troy....."
Well, said.
I don't always play on this level, either. We might in some cases play on a very "low" level until the character is "played out." That is, until the charater's story ends (yes, I heretically believe that just as you start a character at some reasonable point in their lives that you should end it, too, and that the best place to do so is when after the climax of the character's story - sequels are possible). So you play out their day to day lives in the village for some months. Or whatever. In that case, however, I'm still going to skip rolling for how well they do planting the fields unless it's somehow pertinent to the character. If, for example, their self-esteem rides on the planting, then I'll roll for it. But if it's just to see if they'll survive the next winter - well, I'll roll if we ever get to playing winter out.
It's simply not a matter of scale. It's a matter of focusing on what's important to the characters. I think that it's telling that the rules state that only the PCs ever roll for anything. You don't roll for NPCs to, say, fight other NPCs. You just decide what happens. That's an important rule for this mode. Because it keeps the people focused on what the conflicts the character is involved in. Conflcits, not contests.
Now, interestingly, I find theme in every little thing. I roll for all kinda crazy BS that many people wouldn't roll for. I call for rolls against people's default grooming before they go to the dance. I roll for whether or not a character reads something correctly. I roll for planting fields. But I only do these things when I think that they say something about the character - not because it's the next thing that they run into in the in-game environment. Even if it's a dragon. I have to see the character-centric relevance first.
So there's simply no reason in this style to play moment to moment. We do a lot of what we call "Scene Framing." Once the action here is over, the narrator says, "The next day, after you've gotten some rest, and had a meal, you are summoned before the clan chieftain. He asks you whether or not you will swear your loyalty to him." No, this is not railroading. Railroading is taking away choices from the player. I lead the player right to the choices, and then let them take things where they will. As long as each stop is an interesting player choice, "how they go there" is pretry irrellevant, and can be covered by things such as, "A few months pass and you find yourself in Boldhome."
Not for everyone. But very fun for some.
BTW, on a tangent, I've also played the sort of game where you're involved in the sorta tactical ideal, but in which the scale is very high. For example, my Aftermath! game was solely about making farming rolls and such to ensure that the colony survived.
Mike
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