Pawn Stance is Objectively Correct*

*and if you disagree you’re doing it wrong. This too is Pawn Stance. Defining our Terms Pawn Stance is an approach to play that treats the characters and events of your game as tools for accomplishing your goals. It’s also objectively the correct way to play games. A History Lesson Narrative stances as used in this context were first formulated by Kevin Hardwick and Sarah Kahn and became part of the jargon used in the rec.games.frp.advocacy (RGFA) Usenet group sometime before 1996.1 They laid out a few different ways that players could position themselves relative to the events of the game. These terms weren’t formally defined but included (among others)- focusing on portraying their character effectively to other players (Actor Stance) aiming to affect the development of play through their choices (Author Stance) only considering the perspective of their character when deciding on actions (Character Stance) These stances aren’t mutually exclusive and the RGFA believed players might…