thread: 2009-06-22 : Secrets: the Smelly Chamberlain
On 2009-06-23, Emily wrote:
Tom R. wrote:
If PCs just declare facts about an NPC and the GM can't veto those declarations (or even know about them) then there's nothing to stop the PCs from declaring anything to be true at any time. The PCs have a GM to help create/manage their shared fiction and if they don't want to let him do his job, then they don't need a GM.
This is an interesting point. The whole question is about how we get on the same page, and there are good reasons why we try and avoid this kind of situation. Or at least, the more problematic resolutions of it.
Think about this situation, though, if it had been the gm introducing things in similar fashion. The fact that it is players here means that they are assuming power to assert this about the GM's character, and are staging a coup in order to do it. GMs do this all the time and are given that power as part of their job. The GMs job includes making secrets that were plans all the time. Though, as Vincent's next post shows, it doesn't always make for coherent story.
