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Suspense in RPGs
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7449403" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>On definitions: Google gives me <em>suspense</em> = <em>a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen</em>.</p><p></p><p>On outcomes: some outcomes (in films, say, or novels) are known. When I'm watching The Bourne Identity, and 10 or so minutes in Matt Damon's character is involved in some mad hijinks the lead to him being chased by security guards, police, etc - well, I know that he's not going to be shot dead (there's another hour-and-half of running time). And I know that he's not going to be locked up with no hope of escape. And, given the posters I saw on the way into the cinema, I can be pretty sure that he's not going to be arrested and put on trial - because this hasn't been billed as a courtroom drama!</p><p></p><p>But there can still be suspense - <em>anxious uncertainty over what may happen</em>. So what is the event that is generating anxiety because it is possible but not certain?</p><p></p><p>Let's say it's the manner and consequences of the character's escape from the security guards and police. What approach to RPGing will allow this to be replicated (in some fashion, to some degree of approximation)? For instance, what would GM prep look like?</p><p></p><p>So how do we do this in a RPG (if we take it as a premise that the GM is not just going to narrate cut-scenes to the players)?</p><p></p><p>For instance, the player(s) make a check, and it fails (so they eg aren't able to successfuly disguise themselves so they can walk out unnoticed) - if we want suspense, rather than just a cut straight to failure of the sort that you and [MENTION=996]Tony Vargas[/MENTION] noted might be anti-climactic, what should be the response?</p><p></p><p>Do the players get a reroll by staking more? If so, is the reroll purely metagame (that's how 4e, by default, tends to handle it) or something further in the fiction (that's how DitV handles it, and I've done it that way in 4e).</p><p></p><p>Or some sort of "fail forward"? Which raises the question of where we get the requisite story elements from eg must they have already been implicit in the scene, or just implicit on someone's PC sheet? (Say as a relationship, or Bond in 5e.)</p><p></p><p>Something else?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7449403, member: 42582"] On definitions: Google gives me [I]suspense[/I] = [i]a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen[/i]. On outcomes: some outcomes (in films, say, or novels) are known. When I'm watching The Bourne Identity, and 10 or so minutes in Matt Damon's character is involved in some mad hijinks the lead to him being chased by security guards, police, etc - well, I know that he's not going to be shot dead (there's another hour-and-half of running time). And I know that he's not going to be locked up with no hope of escape. And, given the posters I saw on the way into the cinema, I can be pretty sure that he's not going to be arrested and put on trial - because this hasn't been billed as a courtroom drama! But there can still be suspense - [I]anxious uncertainty over what may happen[/I]. So what is the event that is generating anxiety because it is possible but not certain? Let's say it's the manner and consequences of the character's escape from the security guards and police. What approach to RPGing will allow this to be replicated (in some fashion, to some degree of approximation)? For instance, what would GM prep look like? So how do we do this in a RPG (if we take it as a premise that the GM is not just going to narrate cut-scenes to the players)? For instance, the player(s) make a check, and it fails (so they eg aren't able to successfuly disguise themselves so they can walk out unnoticed) - if we want suspense, rather than just a cut straight to failure of the sort that you and [MENTION=996]Tony Vargas[/MENTION] noted might be anti-climactic, what should be the response? Do the players get a reroll by staking more? If so, is the reroll purely metagame (that's how 4e, by default, tends to handle it) or something further in the fiction (that's how DitV handles it, and I've done it that way in 4e). Or some sort of "fail forward"? Which raises the question of where we get the requisite story elements from eg must they have already been implicit in the scene, or just implicit on someone's PC sheet? (Say as a relationship, or Bond in 5e.) Something else? [/QUOTE]
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