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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9087423" data-attributes="member: 42582">Correct.When I sat down with my group a couple of weekends ago to play <s>Burning Wheel</s> Torchbearer, I had no idea that the focus of the session would be on trying to recover the Elfstone from Gerda, let alone that it would end in a blood operatic climax.It can depend. In the case of that Torchbearer session, no prep work - but there were 8 or 9 prior sessions of play to build on.For Burning Wheel, I have written up stat blocks for various possible antagonists. But (for instance) the black arrows were a spontaneous invention (though suggested by the fact that one of the PCs, an Elven "ronin", wore a broken Orcish arrow around his neck, as a token of his captain killed by Orcs).For 4e I would often write up stat blocks, and draw maps for situations that I thought would be interesting given the trajectory in which play was heading. Sometimes I would draw up a map on the spot, or pull a map out of a module and use that. (4e D&D needs combat maps for its combat resolution system to really shine.)I rely on the system to do its job! That is to say, the system - if it is well-designed - will ensure that climaxes occur."Say 'yes' or roll the dice" is one component of this. "Meandering" actions in which nothing is at stake don't engage the resolution mechanics - the GM says yes, the fiction changes, and so the next action gets declared. Intent-and-task resolution is another component - by incorporating player intent into the narration of failure, stakes escalate. When this is combined with the principle of using player priorities to guide framing, various stakes not only escalate but intertwine - as in the example of Megloss, Gerda, and the evil spirit that came out of the Dreamwalker PC's heart all coming together in my last Torchbearer session.Not much about it is subtle. As I hope can be seen in the play examples, it's pretty overt. Like when Thurgon meets his mother, there is no particular subtlety - the GM has Xanthippe ask Thurgon to abandon his errantry, and not leave her again. This produces a crisis for Thurgon. It was resolved by successful prayer (Ob 5 Minor Miracle) to relieve Xanthippe of her burdens and instead be ready to join Thurgon in liberating Auxol, their ancestral estate.Other systems use mechanics as well as fiction to handle the rising of tension. For instance, the version of Cortex+ that I know and play is Marvel Heroic RP and my own fantasy adaptation inspired by the Cortex+ Hacker's guide (which was a type of precursor to Cortex Prime). This has a Doom Pool which is a GM-side resource that grows over time (driven by the mechanics) and that the GM can draw from for various purposes - including buffing NPCs, but also to bring a scene to a close. This gives the players an incentive to try and resolve whatever it is that is at issue before the Doom Pool grows to the point that the GM can use it to end the scene, and this creates tension and escalation in itself.Not really. The player's job is to play their PC. It is decisions made on the GM side, and the interplay between these and mechanics, that generate rising action and precipitation of climax - as per what I've posted above.I wouldn't say so. I mean, you can read the actual play in this thread, and the various posts and threads that I've linked to.Dice rolls will shape the rising action and culmination in crisis. But it is not a retrospective imposing of meaning that is going on. Because at each moment of play, the stakes are meaningful, because of the principles whereby they are established and put into play.The GM needs to be able to think on their feet. A lot of GM advice for this sort of game addresses that - eg when GMing 4e D&D I used GMing advice not just from 4e (which is so-so in this respect) but Burning Wheel (especially the Adenturer Burner), Maelstrom Storytelling, and Robin Laws's HeroWars and HeroQuest revised.There's no need to control the arc beyond that. Foreshadowing is a naturally built in, because of the way stakes are established and consequences narrated. Some threads will be set out but not resolved; this is inevitable in unedited fiction, I think.Surprising things happen - surprises for the GM as well as the PCs. For instance, I've already mentioned that I didn't anticipate the Megloss-Gerda blood opera. Or, when I framed the PCs into an encounter with Djinn in the course of trying to recover their Thundercloud Tower, I didn't know that it would turn into a diplomatic negotiation with Yan-C-Bin, which would result in a truce with the Prince of Evil Air Elementals, and the Djinn who serve him. I wasn't expecting the black arrows until I had to narrate a failed Scavenging test. And so on.The experience of surprising, compelling fiction is a big part of the appeal of RPGing, for me at least.</blockquote>

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