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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9844677" data-attributes="member: 42582">A little while ago [USER=7044566]@thefutilist[/USER] posted this:I agree that the term "fail forward" isn't really the best here, because not all fail forward involves generative resolution. Suppose, for instance, that it's already established that a particular NPC is part of the situation: then a "fail forward" narration that has that NPC pipping a PC to the post won't be generative.  But some "fail forward" involves generative resolution.Here's an example from Torchbearer 2e play, that shows both possibilities:Introducing the constable is generative: when the situation is initially established, their is the PC Golin trying to acquire rope from a vendor of rope; and then, when the roll fails, the GM (that is, me) introduces a new element into the scene to explain why the PC can't purchase the rope that he is after.The second time the constable turns up, though, is not generative. The presence of a constable who doesn't like Golin has now been established as a feature of the situation in town, and so narrating a failure as the constable chasing Golin out of town is "positional" - an already-established element of the situation (the constable) acting on an already-established element of the situation (Golin) to change the latter's status (driven out of town).When this episode happened, I had (as best I recall) already written up some notes for important NPCs in the town: the wizard Burne and the warrior Rufus (both taken from dungeon module T1 The Village of Hommlet). And in a much more recent session, I identified Rufus as the constable who had harassed Golin. But this "retcon" doesn't change the fact that the resolution of the first failure was generative. A note in my prep, which down the track I apply/re-purpose, doesn't change the fact that - as the situation was framed at the table - there was no constable in it.I also think this example shows how the line can be blurry. After all, a town probably has a constable, and so implicit in any situation of doing things in town, is the possibility that a constable might approach you to ask questions. (And the constable was correct to suspect that Golin had some connection to the explosion and fire at the Hedge Wizard's place, and Golin's player knew this at the time.) And so it's hardly the case that the constable comes from nowhere!Compare this example, from <a href="https://mightyatom.blogspot.com/2011/05/apocalypse-world-guide-to-hard-moves.html" target="_blank">a John Harper blog</a>:I've seen people struggle with hard moves in the moment. Like, when the dice miss, the MC stares at it like, "Crap! Now I have to invent something! Better make it dangerous and cool! Uh... some ninja... drop out of the ceiling... with poison knives! Grah!"That's generative resolution that does come out of nowhere.When is generative resolution so implicit in the situation that it really should be considered "positional"? Post your answers in this thread!</blockquote>

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