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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9468611" data-attributes="member: 6790260">No.Only until the curtain is pulled back and people realize that the experience was hollow all along. Then it all comes crashing down. That's the critical downfall of this approach. It is a deception. A &quot;noble lie,&quot; one might say. As long as the noble lie remains unquestioned, you get to reap all the benefits as if it were true, despite not doing the work to actually make it true. That's sort of the ideal state with lies, regardless of their intent. It is having one's cake and eating it too.Ah, see, here you have made a critical mistake. You have assumed that the only way to make &quot;better curated, more narrative&quot; games is to deceive the players into thinking that their choices matter, that they're driving the story forward, that things could have gone differently, etc., all while actually doing none of those things and putting in continuous labor to ensure the players never find out. Perhaps I simply run my game for unusually intelligent people, but I can tell you, after having run a game for over six years now, there's no way in hell I could have kept up a deception like that for six+ years.Instead...do the work to ACTUALLY make this true. It's hard! It's a lot of work, and requires that you either keep copious notes or be very, very good at remembering details you've articulated over time. (I admit I don't do enough of the former and am not quite as good as I'd like at the latter.) You have to work and adjust and think ahead and restrain yourself from over-committing and do all sorts of other things that make it oh-so-tempting to fudge just this one time so things play out &quot;right&quot;, to railroad just a little so it works out &quot;correctly&quot; for the &quot;satisfying conclusion&quot;. You'll put in more labor as DM. But, IMO, that labor is absolutely worth it because......yes, they would be more satisfying, if it is not a deception but genuinely true.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9468611, member: 6790260"] No. Only until the curtain is pulled back and people realize that the experience was hollow all along. Then it all comes crashing down. That's the critical downfall of this approach. It is a deception. A "noble lie," one might say. As long as the noble lie remains unquestioned, you get to reap all the benefits [I]as if[/I] it were true, despite not doing the work to actually [I]make[/I] it true. That's sort of the ideal state with lies, regardless of their intent. It is having one's cake and eating it too. Ah, see, here you have made a critical mistake. You have assumed that the only way to make "better curated, more narrative" games is to deceive the players into [I]thinking[/I] that their choices matter, that they're driving the story forward, that things could have gone differently, etc., all while actually doing none of those things and putting in continuous labor to ensure the players never find out. Perhaps I simply run my game for unusually intelligent people, but I can tell you, after having run a game for over six years now, there's no way in [I]hell[/I] I could have kept up a deception like that for six+ years. Instead...do the work to ACTUALLY make this true. It's hard! It's a lot of work, and requires that you either keep copious notes or be very, very good at remembering details you've articulated over time. (I admit I don't do enough of the former and am not quite as good as I'd like at the latter.) You have to work and adjust and think ahead and restrain yourself from over-committing and do all sorts of other things that make it oh-so-tempting to fudge [I]just this one time[/I] so things play out "right", to railroad [I]just a little[/I] so it works out "correctly" for the "satisfying conclusion". You'll put in more labor as DM. But, IMO, that labor is absolutely worth it because... ...yes, they [I]would[/I] be more satisfying, [I]if[/I] it is not a deception but genuinely true. [/QUOTE]

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