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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6784069" data-attributes="member: 42582">As I mentioned upthread, I think that "fail forward" relies upon leaving elements of backstory loose and flexible, so that they can be narrated as appropriate in order to maintain the narrative momentum.This includes such things as NPC personalities and motives. One of my favourite comments on this particular issue comes from <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/archive/index.php?topic=1361" target="_blank">Paul Czege</a>: I frame the character into the middle of conflicts I think will push and pull in ways that are interesting to me and to the player. I keep NPC personalities somewhat unfixed in my mind, allowing me to retroactively justify their behaviors in support of this.I thought we were generally on the same page, but I don't get why you say "I will always succeed simply because my character set it as an important goal".To go back to [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION]'s toy example, if I lose my diving rod then there is a good chance I will not succeed in finding the pudding at the top of Mt Pudding.Or, to refer to the actual play examples I've mentioned and linked to upthread:* Just because the mace washes up in the stream where the servants are doing the laundry doesn't mean the PC is guaranteed to get it. As it happens, he did, but only because the other PC who had promised to help followed the servants to the loft where they hid the mace, and then stole it. * Just because the feather is an angel feather doesn't mean that the PC is guaranteed to be able to turn it into a fire-protection item. First he might have to find a way to lift the curse. * I mentioned the PCs travelling on a ship that sank. They didn't want the ship to sink. They wanted to be able to defeat the ghost ship. But because, rather than holding the crew together as a cohesive team, they had played a role in sowing fear and disunity, they failed in this.Relating the last of those dot points to "fail forward" as a technique: keeping the ship's crew together was an important goal for at least one of the PCs, but they failed and the ship sank. In this context, "fail forward" means that rather than make rolls to see if they drown, the next situation I narrate (as GM) has the PCs floating in the water clinging to wreckage, much of their equipment (and loot) lost, hoping that they get rescued. And as it happens, the elven princess PC has a very good bonus for Circles (the BW attribute that is checked when the player wants his/her PC to encounter a helpful NPC) and so an elven ship out searching for the missing princess came by and rescued them. Which then triggered a new series of challenges - as the captain of the elven ship discovered that two of the PCs are ill-omened sorcerers - leading, ultimately, to the PCs being dumped on the shore of the Bright Desert.Where a new series of challenges then unfolded. Etc.If you asked my players, I think they would say that this BW game is one of the hardest, grittiest and most failure-ridden they've ever played in - that's BW's main schtick. Much moreso than the 4e campaign we're in, or then previous RM or 3E campaigns that various members of the group have played in.But they're never at a loss as to what the situation is that's confronting them, nor as to why it matters to them. That's what "fail forward" is for.</blockquote>

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