NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7058294" data-attributes="member: 42582">Why?In what concrete way would my game be better, here and now, if I decided the "true" backstory of the decapitated brother, and used that secret backstory to adjudicate action declarations and hence determine outcomes.You keep saying this. But where is the lack of "logical continuity" in any of my games? I've posted quite a bit of actual play in this thread. I can link to about 30 pages of it for my main 4e game if you're interested. I'm not aware of any continuity issues.In the excerpt from a play report I sblocked in my previous post, where were the continuity issues?In no other medium is it assumed that the sequence of authorship of fictional events must correspond to the sequence in which those events occur in the fiction. Novelists, script writers, etc sometimes (often, even) come up with ideas for scenes or particular characters, and then write in the backstory and context which will locate the initially-conceived events within a broader fictional construction.Why must RPGs be different?As a general proposition, that is true. The referee is bound by "let it ride". If a player succeeds at a check, the PC's task is successful and the intent is realised.The only way to undo "let it ride" would be for the player him-/herself to somehow stake that victory in some future conflict, and fail. This is why I have frequently referred, upthread, to narrating setbacks as a consequence of failure.Even I don't know why the brother made the black arrows - that looks like a mystery to me!The players aren't just stipulating actions for PCs. Have a look at the actual play reports: the players are establishing PC backstories, and declaring actions for their PCs.EDIT: Also, if the vampire is not evil (or otherwise sinister) then I'm not 100% sure what the twist is. I assume the revelation is meant to be more dramatic than learning that one's patron has been a vegetarian all along.</blockquote>

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