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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 7098714" data-attributes="member: 6778044">These two statements seem to be contradictory. In the first you are implying that the fiction cannot write itself (which is something a great many authors have said is what often happens), and in the second you are saying the fiction is already written and we cannot change it.So is the fiction "fixed" (that is, not being changed) and we are just discovering it, in which case we are not authoring it, or are we authoring it, in which case the fiction is not "fixed."When I talk of fiction authoring itself, I think it's a combination of the author, and the conditions previously set forth in the fiction. So when you create a new NPC who has motivations, and then consider (without additional authors) how that NPC goes about achieving those motivations in relation to the rest of the fiction (NPCs, events, plots, etc.), it sort of writes its own story. Yes, somebody else might come to different conclusions, but the perception is that it's "writing itself."I've experienced that sort of circumstance both in writing and in music. Is it really writing itself? I don't really care. Because it's writing itself without conscious input by myself. As far as something in the fiction not being fixed (that is, cannot be changed) until authored, that's a classic example of Schroedinger's Cat. The secret door is present/not present until the check determines whether it is or not. That's the objection that a lot of people have. Whether a player or DM, some people just don't like that concept.I don't share that objection 100%. When you improvise, roll randomly, or even change something on the fly it's the same effect as saying "authoring some bit of fiction does not change the fiction." But the reality is that isn't not being changed, because it didn't exist in the first place.This doesn't exclude the possibility of the "fiction writing itself" of which random generation is one way for it to write itself. My issue is not the drama. My issue is the logic and continuity. Does a secret door belong here? Like traps, secret doors and passages are built for specific reasons. One is to allow somebody to stealthily come and go as they please. While those seem to be fairly prevalent in fantasy RPGs, I think that the more common types of a secret passage is as an escape route.Regardless, it's not a random inclusion or placement. I don't mind determining if there is a secret door there until later, but by doing it based on a skill check would sometimes give me cause to override such a roll if the placement made it impossible.In your case, you probably haven't designed the entire castle. OK. But I think if you design by skill check you'll have a very oddly designed and entirely ineffective castle. I get it, you're going to interact with that castle for a period of time when it's relevant to this adventure. But in my case it's going to potentially exist for the next 30 years of my campaign.</blockquote>

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