thread: 2011-04-12 : A background in Principled Freeform
On 2011-04-14, Simon C wrote:
Hi! No need to apologise! I am a big boy!
I kind of assumed that it must have, since it was fun for a long time, but I can't really understand how.
For example, escaping the Dragon. I don't really see how the fictional conflicts are being maintained.
In the thread you say: "Once we'd gotten the whole dice mechanism in place, it was obvious that our characters couldn't lose in the long run, not with Emily's d20. Which was just fine, which was ideal in fact: none of us wanted our characters to lose. We wanted to see how they survived, and what it showed us about them. Knowing that the dragon wouldn't kill them didn't hurt the suspense at all."
So the conflict with the Dragon isn't really being maintained, yeah? Because it's not what matters? The dice are stacked in your favour, and even if you lose there are no stakes attached, so it's just pacing.
I assume that this is because what really matters is the conflict between the characters. It's their conflict of interest which needs to be maintained against the players' unity of interest. I can't see how that is achieved. Inform me!
