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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emberashh" data-source="post: 9508662" data-attributes="member: 7040941">Not really, because its a collaborative effort, and it doesn't just stop for no reason. Keep in mind the best maxim here: follow the follower. They should be following your lead and you follow theirs, and that goes for everyone who gets involved. If they're introducing the idea that it was a prank (perhaps the pounding is them coming to take the piss out of you for it), you have to acknowledge that and act according to how you see the scene. Do you believe its actually a prank? Is that even your party member yelling that at you?There's a lot of ways you can respond to it, and its going to evolve regardless because of the improvisational nature of it, so one should embrace it when it happens.And keep in mind as well that this particular example was meant to be a bridge to explaining that this system is optional, and that groups should engage with it conscious of what the group wants to do with their gametime.If you're on the quest to defeat the big bad dragon, you should probably read the room; a murder mystery might be interesting to explore, but is this something you should be injecting into the adventure right now? And whats more, this is why context is a big thing; if you want to get into a side venture, why not make it more directly related to what you're already doing?Thats when we get into what I talked about in the essay about the unwelcome extreme, and why I was relating this particular prank idea; its an illustration of how something like this can be smoothed over to keep gameplay running smoothly if what was introduced is out of place.A random murder mystery is fantastic if you're just traveling to a new town or exploring the gameworld; not so much if its being shoehorned into the effective finale of a big quest you've all been on. That isn't to say a whodunnit couldn't be an engaging part of it, though; there's plenty of big bads that would make that work in context.This incidentally is where having the Keeper and the Game as participants can do a lot compared to straight improv, because their feedback can bridge gaps like this where  people might be pulling in differring directions. The Misfire idea was an example of that, but another could be to have my prank turned on me, where the lass really was murdered and left in your bed, and now I have to figure out what the hell my spell did while we both freak out about her body.So to put it short; its a collaboration, and nobody told you to stop. Follow each other until you reach an organic conclusion.</blockquote>

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