Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7073202" data-attributes="member: 42582">Is the wrong in cheating cheating? Or in being caught?I think many would say the former - ie that cheating matters to the victims of it even if they don't know about it.But there is an additional consideration here when it comes to the practicalities of a social experience like a RPG - namely, that as a general rule the participants can tell where various contributions came from. To refer back to my post 536 upthread:In the examples above, the framing and hence the game is a player-driven one; eg, No, the door isn't one you can fly through as a falcon; No, because you failed a check you're stuck in this prison indefinitely, and I'm making it true in the fiction that that is because of your past shenanigans involving NPCs and social dynamics that you've made central to our shared fiction; To get the help you want from the assassin, you have to relinquish the Orb that you chose to take from her and that you hid in the cathedral altar; You've accepted the assassin's insistence that she won't summon without proper circle-drawing equipment, and so you've made yourself hostage to her ability to pick the lock and get you both out of prison; EtcIt is quite transparent to the player how the choices that he made about his character, and thereby about the fiction, are driving the fiction into which his PC is being framed. It's equally transparent how, had the player made different choices, or had different outcomes on checks, the fiction would have been different. For instance, had the player not failed the check to carry the bodies through the city, the shared fiction would not have included the PC being in prison; had the player not failed the check to have the PC's cleric friend come by the prison, the shared fiction would not have included the PC being in prison indefinitely; had the player not chosen to take the Orb from the assassin and hide it, I wouldn't have narrated the assassin making the relinquishing of the Orb (which was a very difficult check) her price (indeed, if the PC had been able to escape from the prison with the help of the cleric, probably he would have made the assassin's cooperation in summoning the brother's spirit a price of helping her get out); had the player chosen to have his PC try and talk the assassin into using a circle of breadcrumbs for summoning the spirit, then that might have worked, and the summoning might have taken place inside the prison cell.At every point, the player can see how the content of the fiction that is at the centre of play is being shaped as a result of his play of the game. There is no cunning GM manipulation or nudging taking place.I feel that the contrast with the player having his PC go to the mercenaries' guild, so that the GM can have a NPC tell the PC (and thereby the player) that there is an adventure with orcs on the other side of the hills, is pretty apparent.</blockquote>

Verification