Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6796815" data-attributes="member: 42582">The players are real people who have turned up to have a fun time playing a game. In those circumstances, it's not particularly hokey for the GM to make sure that, whatever happens, there is a game for them to play.In Gygaxian D&D, this means the GM has a dungeon ready.In "fail forward" style games, this means the PCs (and therefore the players) being confronted with challenging situations that reflect, and in their resolution will one way or another develop, the narrative momentum of the game.The term is not a name for an invention. It's a label for a technique which has been in use for a long time, but has not necessarily been identified and deployed systematically. In this respect it belongs to the same lexicographic family as "scene framing".As far as techniques are concerned, [MENTION=23935]Nagol[/MENTION]'s example of having a jailer turn up to taunt (or otherwise interact with) the trapped PC is a standard example of how "fail forward" adjudication might work. Failing the "avoid pits" roll leads to a complication - trapped and taunted - which was not desired by the player or PC (and hence is a failure) and which opens up a difficult choice for the player and PC (eg what is the PC prepared to offer the jailer in return for freedom?).</blockquote>