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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7757663" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think REH Conan stories (if we bracket the racisim and sexism) provide a reasonable model for FRPGing. I haven't gone through the whole catalogue, but here are some coincidences I remember without much effort to recall them:* In Tower of the Elephant, Conan tries to rob the tower just as the other thief is doing the same thing; * In The Scarlet Citadel, my recollection is that some of the timing of the guard who frees Conan, and the snake, is pretty convenient; and then there is the encounter with the sorcerer; * In Hour of the Dragon, Conan turns up in the Stygian temple at the same time as the Khitan monks; * In The People of the Black Circle, I seem to recall that he has a conviently-timed encounter with the Khozaks; * Etc.Coincidence is what makes stories happen; and not just in pulp fiction. I revisited Howards End not too long ago, and its plot turns on coincidences of character connection and also, at the end, timing of events - ie that Leonard and Charles comes to Howards End at the same time.In RPGing, there are two main ways to handle coincidence. The GM establishes them via framing - which is what much of the discussion in the thread has concerned (like the king being incognito at the inn where the assassins wait for him, just as the PCs arrive) - or they are the result of action resolution (eg the players make a good reaction roll, and it turns out the NPC has some past connection to a PC, a PC's family member, etc; or the players make a good evasion roll, and their friends the elves turn up to cut off the orcish horde).I think the latter approach might be less often used, but is worth thinking more about as a "storytelling" device in RPGs.</blockquote>

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