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Message: <blockquote data-quote="deleuzian_kernel" data-source="post: 9624130" data-attributes="member: 7036985">Regardless of whether there is a prewritten backstory or the mystery is being developed procedurally during play, the key is that the situation is live, open, and responsive to the players’ actions. It’s not about whether the GM wrote something down before play or is improvising but whether the players’ engagement can genuinely reshape what’s happening at the table.For example, imagine that during a murder investigation, the players suspect a local merchant and publicly accuse them. It turns out they’re wrong, the merchant is innocent, but because of that accusation, the merchant loses their livelihood, their family is shamed, and tensions rise in the community. Now, it doesn’t matter whether the merchant’s innocence was established in the GM’s notes before play or whether it was determined procedurally, say, by a roll or by emergent circumstances during play. Either way, the consequences of the players’ actions are real and persistent. The next time they return to that town, the fallout from their investigation, successful, failed, or partial, is still there, shaping relationships, opportunities, and obstacles.That’s what I mean by playing situationally: the investigation isn’t just about whether the players crack the case, but about how their investigation changes the world and leaves marks on it.The whole shebang with the merchant. His innocence. It's REAL in both instances because it has REAL consequences.</blockquote>

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