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RPG Evolution: The Fair-Play Whodunnit
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<blockquote data-quote="Veltharis ap Rylix" data-source="post: 9113774" data-attributes="member: 66357"><p>Considering Christie is the one of the most published authors to have ever lived, on par with Shakespeare, I think she got the last laugh on that.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I think the rules themselves are less important than the "problem" they were created to address. Classic mystery novels are a kind of game, a puzzle intended for the reader to attempt to solve, but much like a DM pitting a table of fresh level 1 PCs against a horde of CR 20+ monsters, it's absolutely within the power of the author to make their puzzle highly unfair, if not completely unsolvable, to the reader based solely on what they choose to reveal and what they choose to keep hidden - particularly for new and inexperienced mystery authors who may not have a solid grasp on the craft yet.</p><p></p><p>A mystery that hinges on the existence of a secret passage isn't a problem in and of itself, but only if that secret passage is either shown to the reader in-story or can be reasonably inferred to exist. A plot-critical secret passage that is never so much as hinted at until the big reveal at the end of the book isn't fair to the reader, in much the same way as setting up a compelling list of suspects then pinning the blame on a random, heretofore unseen burglar at the last minute is unfair. It's a rug-pull - it cheapens the experience and risks potentially turning new readers off the genre.</p><p></p><p>Whether strict adherence to Knox/Van Dine is necessary or not for a would-be mystery author, I do think striving to make your story "fair" to the reader is a laudable goal.</p><p></p><p>One of my favorite mystery stories proudly bears the tagline "No Knox. No Dine. No Fair." and centers on a witch trapping eighteen people on an isolated island in a time-loop to relive variations of a Japanese "And Then There Were None" over and over again with an ever-growing cast of witches and demons popping in to murder people in increasingly elaborate ways, all the while she and the protagonist propose/debunk theoretical solutions to the mystery by shouting <span style="color: rgb(209, 72, 65)">colored </span><span style="color: rgb(84, 172, 210)">text </span>at one another for 100+ hours to one of the best visual novel soundtracks out there, and in spite of all of that, it nonetheless manages to be remarkably fair and completely solvable at the end of the day, so... <em>shrugs</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Veltharis ap Rylix, post: 9113774, member: 66357"] Considering Christie is the one of the most published authors to have ever lived, on par with Shakespeare, I think she got the last laugh on that. I think the rules themselves are less important than the "problem" they were created to address. Classic mystery novels are a kind of game, a puzzle intended for the reader to attempt to solve, but much like a DM pitting a table of fresh level 1 PCs against a horde of CR 20+ monsters, it's absolutely within the power of the author to make their puzzle highly unfair, if not completely unsolvable, to the reader based solely on what they choose to reveal and what they choose to keep hidden - particularly for new and inexperienced mystery authors who may not have a solid grasp on the craft yet. A mystery that hinges on the existence of a secret passage isn't a problem in and of itself, but only if that secret passage is either shown to the reader in-story or can be reasonably inferred to exist. A plot-critical secret passage that is never so much as hinted at until the big reveal at the end of the book isn't fair to the reader, in much the same way as setting up a compelling list of suspects then pinning the blame on a random, heretofore unseen burglar at the last minute is unfair. It's a rug-pull - it cheapens the experience and risks potentially turning new readers off the genre. Whether strict adherence to Knox/Van Dine is necessary or not for a would-be mystery author, I do think striving to make your story "fair" to the reader is a laudable goal. One of my favorite mystery stories proudly bears the tagline "No Knox. No Dine. No Fair." and centers on a witch trapping eighteen people on an isolated island in a time-loop to relive variations of a Japanese "And Then There Were None" over and over again with an ever-growing cast of witches and demons popping in to murder people in increasingly elaborate ways, all the while she and the protagonist propose/debunk theoretical solutions to the mystery by shouting [COLOR=rgb(209, 72, 65)]colored [/COLOR][COLOR=rgb(84, 172, 210)]text [/COLOR]at one another for 100+ hours to one of the best visual novel soundtracks out there, and in spite of all of that, it nonetheless manages to be remarkably fair and completely solvable at the end of the day, so... [I]shrugs[/I] [/QUOTE]
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