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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JonM" data-source="post: 8250527" data-attributes="member: 6796515">Don't worry - there was no apology coming. (Just assuming I'm going to apologize and then nobly absolving me of the need to do it? Wow... just, wow... No, not elitist, at all...) Right. Second try.I do think you've made your questions much clearer this time, but I think they demonstrate that you missed the thrust of my posts. Up until today, I had no orientation toward Story Now mysteries. None at all. I wasn't even sure the improv mysteries I had run would be considered Story Now (although, based on your descriptions, I am now inclined to think they would be). As I said earlier, I simply wanted to know if anyone considered it possible to run a traditional Mystery genre story, using the Story Now approach, without sacrificing either one for the other. And, if so, how they'd done it and how it went. Period. No preconceived notions, when I made the first post. No orientation.Now, to actually answer your questions (given that, at this point, I'm starting to form an opinion), my sense is that part of the atmosphere, if you will, of a traditional Mystery, involves the feeling of "ah! so that's what happened", ideally sweetened by the fact that some earlier assumptions turned out to be wrong. And that might be the problem. Because the "ah!" part can work, in Story Now, with the added bonus that the GM may get to experience it, too. But the "sweetened by the fact that some earlier assumptions turned out to be wrong" part, which adds to the atmosphere, nuance and layering? That I'm less sure about.I mean, I guess you could throw in some some sort of chance of "oh, here's the answer - no wait, we're wrong - plot twist!" This would then lead to a new round of investigation, to find the real answer, and so on. But I suspect that might feel a bit artificial, to a lot of players. Which damages the atmosphere.Now, I could be wrong about all of this. But, at this point, your own comments lead me to think, as I said earlier, that Story Now may not exactly be operating from a position of strength, with the Mystery genre. Which is fine. It doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it, in any other context.</blockquote>

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