THE EMERGENT STORY & OSR PLAY

A very excellent post from Ben L. (of Ultan's Door Fame which I'll be running at North Texas RPG Con) about story emerging from sandbox play. He also gives a really even-handed explanation of the different approaches adopted by the OSR and indie games in their response to "trad rpgs". 

I could quote it to death, but here is one of my favorite parts:

If we don't see ourselves as storytelling, then in what sense do we take pleasure in "emergent stories"? When we say we're into "stories that emerge from play", we mean precisely stories that no one aimed to produce. Like in ordinary life, where we do various things not intending to produce a story, but nonetheless through the interaction of chance, the dubiousness of colorful characters, and our boldness in the moment, a memorable story emerges.