Decoupling Success and Agency

Last week I was playing Realis^[1] and felt something I couldn’t entirely explain. Using one game mechanic, I wanted to fail. Using another, I didn’t. I think the answer comes down to a simple matter of agency. To explain I’ll first need to talk through some of the game’s core rules.

During a conflict in Realis, an Actor and Counteractor each put forth a Means. Means have scores from 0 to 3; the higher Means wins and Counteractors win ties. The Actor’s Dramatic Intent comes to pass if they win, and does not if they lose. NPCs aren’t always the Counteractor (as I thought when I first read the game); instead PCs and NPCs can be either as appropriate. This is all pretty simple—the beauty is that a character’s Means are mostly sentences that describe them, but we can set the specifics aside.

Players each have a Token which may be spent during a conflict to gain a +1 to their Means. One way to regain your Token is a Tragic Success: %% TODO %%

During play, I was actively avoiding failing a conflict but looking for opportunities for a Tragic Success. It seemed contradictory to me at first. In both cases, my character’s intent would be frustrated. The difference actually lies entirely out-of-fiction: my own agency as a player. A Tragic Success