I confess, I’m having a lot of trouble understanding what you’re talking about here. Can you give me a layman’s description of a “Grand Argument Story”?
Grand Argument Story:https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Grand+Argument+Story%3A&ia=web
Can you explain why it makes ending a game difficult?
I didn’t say that.From what I can tell just watching boards, most games are stillborn. Having a game that is also a coherent story, as opposed to what most to all actually are, namely tales, i.e., failed stories, is the difficult part. Time and gravity eats us all. It’s built in, and not hard at all.
Or making a game coherent difficult? (I’m not sure which of those two you are saying is hard?)
Still didn’t say that. Please quote me if you think otherwise. Coherent, actual story, not game. The gamey bit is a distinct thing.
What do you mean by “do stories”? Your talk about “Railroading” makes it sound like you have stories in mind that people are expected to play through, but that doesn’t jive with “only the most chaotic sandbox wouldn’t have this problem.”
Because even “normal” games have “railroading,” if you want to look at it that way. I don’t really see why this is so hard to grasp. For example, a hard historical game set somewhere in Europe at the height of Christendom doesn’t permit of many anachronisms, such as, for example, SJW think, Feminism, equal rights, etc.
In other words, I can’t think of too many games where one may “do, be, and have it all, whenever you like.” Your “odds” of getting a story that way resemlbe throwing a loose pack of untampered cards into the air, to land land in order. It’s magical thinking and pixie dust.
TL; DR - I wan’t my “games” to be stories, just like most everyone assumes they are, when they are not. Without great, exacting effort, they never will be. My games never quite make it, nor do I have a reasonable hope that they ever will be, but the attempt does improve the end product, and people can sense it, even if they don’t know why.
I hope that helps; if not, I don’t know what else to peck at you.
Basically: I can’t tell from your post what you want your games to be like.