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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6777851" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>My best attempt at an abridged breakdown of Fail Forward, an example, its use, systemitizing it, and why it is problematic for certain RPGers.</p><p></p><p>Break action resolution out into two parts:</p><p></p><p>a) <strong>Intent </strong>component of action (required scene context and stakes).</p><p></p><p><em>Example: I'm chasing this guy across the rooftops so I can catch him and finger him for crime <em>n</em> and/or uncover his his co-conspirators/sponsors and indict them.</em></p><p></p><p>b) <strong>The physical manifestation of the Task</strong> component of action within the shared fiction (stakes-neutral).</p><p></p><p><em>Example: I pursue, free-running across the slippery, rain-soaked rooftops and leap from this building to the next! (Roll Athletics, Body + Heart, Strength - whatever).</em></p><p></p><p>Assume whatever fortune resolution method the game uses indicates the action is a failure. Using the Fail Forward technique, the GM will render the fallout of this action resolution in such a way that (a) is not attained/complicated/attainable at a steep cost (that the player can buy into if they're wiling to accept said cost and its attendant fallout) while (b) is successful. Essential, of course is that this is not rendered in a way such that the action stops in a dead end. For instance:</p><p></p><p><em>GM: The rain-shrouded night does little to foil your dextrous, devil-may-care parkour! You easily step on the elevated ledge and fly through the air toward the next building as your prey attempts to put some distance between you. When you land, he smiles at you from across the way and discorporates into a swarm of bats and flies away...something (relevant - maybe smithy tongs or an inkwell or something) clangs on the ground where once your prey stood.</em></p><p></p><p>That is one option. There are several others that introduce mere complications (perhaps rotten joists of the building you and the perp land on cannot manage the load and it collapses, leaving you both diminished - resource-wise - and in the debris on the next floor down).</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>This can be somewhat systematized (such as joker dice in a pool that dictates some sort of complication even on successes or some sort of boon even on failures...or the 7-9 success with complications - soft move - or the 6- result that is rendered as a soft move rather than an outright failure), but it is always, in part at the least, technique/principle driven.</p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>Why is it problematic for some RPGers. For some folks, they don't want intent (a) to have primacy in action resolution (neither within the mechanics nor in the GMing principles that guide the rendering of the evolved fiction), such as it does above. For other folks, forget about primacy, they don't want intent to have <strong>any role at all </strong>in the action resolution mechanics. They want or have always played (therefore internalized the paradigm as legitimate RPGing) with the assumption that the resolution mechanics hew very closely to a physics engine for the imaginary world where the action takes place. Others still have play priorities that require the mechanics and GM directives put success and failure in binary, opposing (and as transparent as possible) positions such that some iteration of "score" (as a proxy for skillfulness during play) can be tallied. </p><p></p><p>For those three groups, Fail Forward fails hard for them because of this.</p><p> </p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>Finally, Fail Forward has absolutely 0 to do with railroading. It is pretty much universally found in low-to-no prep systems whereby player agency and dynamic, "play to find out what happens" narrative (eg - the opposite of the removal of agency and an "All Roads Lead to Rome" table dynamic) is the paramount play priority.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 6777851, member: 6696971"] My best attempt at an abridged breakdown of Fail Forward, an example, its use, systemitizing it, and why it is problematic for certain RPGers. Break action resolution out into two parts: a) [B]Intent [/B]component of action (required scene context and stakes). [I]Example: I'm chasing this guy across the rooftops so I can catch him and finger him for crime [I]n[/I] and/or uncover his his co-conspirators/sponsors and indict them.[/I] b) [B]The physical manifestation of the Task[/B] component of action within the shared fiction (stakes-neutral). [I]Example: I pursue, free-running across the slippery, rain-soaked rooftops and leap from this building to the next! (Roll Athletics, Body + Heart, Strength - whatever).[/I] Assume whatever fortune resolution method the game uses indicates the action is a failure. Using the Fail Forward technique, the GM will render the fallout of this action resolution in such a way that (a) is not attained/complicated/attainable at a steep cost (that the player can buy into if they're wiling to accept said cost and its attendant fallout) while (b) is successful. Essential, of course is that this is not rendered in a way such that the action stops in a dead end. For instance: [I]GM: The rain-shrouded night does little to foil your dextrous, devil-may-care parkour! You easily step on the elevated ledge and fly through the air toward the next building as your prey attempts to put some distance between you. When you land, he smiles at you from across the way and discorporates into a swarm of bats and flies away...something (relevant - maybe smithy tongs or an inkwell or something) clangs on the ground where once your prey stood.[/I] That is one option. There are several others that introduce mere complications (perhaps rotten joists of the building you and the perp land on cannot manage the load and it collapses, leaving you both diminished - resource-wise - and in the debris on the next floor down). [HR][/HR] This can be somewhat systematized (such as joker dice in a pool that dictates some sort of complication even on successes or some sort of boon even on failures...or the 7-9 success with complications - soft move - or the 6- result that is rendered as a soft move rather than an outright failure), but it is always, in part at the least, technique/principle driven. [HR][/HR] Why is it problematic for some RPGers. For some folks, they don't want intent (a) to have primacy in action resolution (neither within the mechanics nor in the GMing principles that guide the rendering of the evolved fiction), such as it does above. For other folks, forget about primacy, they don't want intent to have [B]any role at all [/B]in the action resolution mechanics. They want or have always played (therefore internalized the paradigm as legitimate RPGing) with the assumption that the resolution mechanics hew very closely to a physics engine for the imaginary world where the action takes place. Others still have play priorities that require the mechanics and GM directives put success and failure in binary, opposing (and as transparent as possible) positions such that some iteration of "score" (as a proxy for skillfulness during play) can be tallied. For those three groups, Fail Forward fails hard for them because of this. [HR][/HR] Finally, Fail Forward has absolutely 0 to do with railroading. It is pretty much universally found in low-to-no prep systems whereby player agency and dynamic, "play to find out what happens" narrative (eg - the opposite of the removal of agency and an "All Roads Lead to Rome" table dynamic) is the paramount play priority. [/QUOTE]
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