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I guess my question is: what do you, or @Enrahim, feel that you do not understand about "fail forward" as an approach to resolution.

I don't know what you are getting at by distinguishing "is an example of" from "is a part of". Suppose that I am producing a suspense/thriller/slasher-type film. In that film, a character is going to have the perpetrator enter his room while he is asleep. Here is what rising action might look...

The poster to whom I replied said that there is no in-world cause and effect between failing an attempt at picking a lock, and startling a cook. My point is that the in-world cause and effect is obvious.

I think this is an over-generalisation. Romeo and Juliet. Les Miserables. The Great Gatsby. Howard's End. Just to name a few works that don't seem to conform to your statement.

I think you're confusing cause and effect. In a game, like classic D&D (eg the original game, Gygax's AD&D, Moldvay/Cook/Marsh B/X), that emphasises problem solving, clever operational play, obtaining maximum treasure at a minimum cost, etc, then "fail forward" is probably not a good fit. This...

"Fail forward" is a fairly well-known technique. It is part of an approach to play that emphasises (to use a metaphor) the "momentum" of play, including trajectories of threat and promise. It is related to players having clear goals or intents or hopes in their action declarations, which - on a...

Have you read the Apoclaypse World rulebook? Do you know how that game handles PC build, setting creation, GM prep (notice how I've separated that from setting creation), adjudication of consequences for declared actions, etc? If you haven't, then I don't see how you are in a position to...

Gygax's DMG says this (p 61): The system assumes much activity during the course of each round. Envision, if you will, a fencing, boxing, or karate match. During the course of one minute of such competition there are numerous attacks which are unsuccessful, feints, maneuvering, and so forth...

Yes. And I've given you some examples, but you're contesting them. For instance, you seem to think that an hour of play managing logistics and inventory can be an example of rising action or rising conflict. To me, that means that maybe you mean something different from those terms than I do?

Why is it a bad term? Has anyone who sat down to GM Apocalypse World ever been confused or led astray by it? Here is the parallel instruction to Burning Wheel GMs (found under the instructions on the role of the GM in Revised, Gold and Gold Revised): Most important, the GM is responsible for...

When doors are unexpectedly opened by burglars, the people behind them may get startled. Good burglars are good at avoiding this (by dint of timing, stealth, etc). Bad or unlucky burglars less so. Those are all true generalisations - relations - that obtain in the real world, not just in the...

An attribute/ability rating in Cortex+ represents something - eg Godlike Strength d12 represents that the character has godlike strength. But the roll of the dice doesn't represent anything. Choosing which two dice to take as the total, and which die to use for effect, is not a representational...

Surely you're capable of appreciating that your approach to RPGing is not the only one that people engage in or aspire to.

I don't know. I mean, to me it seems pretty weak, unless there is something at stake in trying one of those different options (my example was having to speak a prayer to Pazuzu; another might be having to garotte a guard, rather than just sneak past them) - but that in itself will depend on what...

Heaven forbid that the fiction in a RPG be affected by (i) the actions the players declare for their PCs, and (ii) their success or failure when they roll for those actions. If you, @Lanefan, wish to narrate failed burglary in your preferred way, that's your prerogative. But it is obvious that...

I don't know what you mean by "rising conflict" or "rising action". I don't see a long discussion of how many pitons the PCs have, how much rope they have, whether they can rig something up to cross the frictionless room, etc as fitting any account that I'm familiar with. Edwards discusses the...

I realise this. But it involves the GM telling the player what the PC experiences, and hence what the PC believes. What you say only works if the GM controls some of what the PCs believe - eg if the GM controls what the PCs believe about their immediate environment based on their present...

Right. Here's an example, the I already posted upthread I think: Of course, there is an in-fiction rationale for both PCs' changing their Beliefs. That pretty much goes without saying! But there is no dictation of a change, either by the fiction or by the system. It is a player choice. It helps...

No one wants their players to be bored. That's not what Make the players' characters' lives not boring is addressing. As @Campbell pointed out, the agenda pertains to the PCs, not the players.

Here is the post that prompted this discussion of "faithful" portrayal of character: Do you two, and @Maxperson, think that I'm wrong about The Riddle of Steel and Burning Wheel? Do you think I'm wrong to say that the sorts of expectations these RPGs place on the player, as to how the PC is...