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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8011682" data-attributes="member: 42582">On this issue of genre as a constraint on valid action declarations, here's a very clear statement of the idea from the HeroQuest Revised rulebook (p 74), under the heading "Credibility Tests::As Narrator, you are never obligated to allow a contest just because two characters have abilities that can be brought into conflict. If the character's proposed result would seem abusrd, you disallow the contest, period. . . . Players are typically as attuned to common-sense narrative reality as you are, and will not routinely propoose patently absurd actions. You'll find that they do almost all of your credibility testing for you. . . . What constitutes a credible action may vary form one setting to the next. [The text goes on to give examples of varous genrses, like LeCarre spy thriller compared to James Bond-style spy thriller.]I already posted about a similar point being made in the Burning Wheel book: no roll to see if there is beam weaponry hidden in the Duke's toilet.Dungeon World (p 58) also states a similar idea, though it links it less to genre and more to a robust sense of ficitonal positioning:Note that an “attack” is some action that a player undertakes that has a chance of causing physical harm to someone else. Attacking a dragon with inch-thick metal scales full of magical energy using a typical sword is like swinging a meat cleaver at a tank: it just isn’t going to cause any harm, so hack and slash [ie the basic melee combat resolution framework] doesn’t apply.This is also crucial in GMing Marvel Heroic RP: if Bobby Drake's player proposes as an action to try and beat The Hulk in an arm wrestle, then (unless Bobby does something tricky, like making The Hulk slip on some ice) the outcome is a foregone conclusion, because Bobby simply isn't anywhere near as strong as The Hulk.These examples are all talking about something very different from the GM deciding that an attempted action fails because - though it makes sense given the genre and the established fiction - there is some reason stated in his/her notes that means it cannot succeed.</blockquote>

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