thread: 2017-06-07 : Failure in RPGs (by Paganini)
On 2017-06-07, Tom wrote:
One other point of failure in literature is to keep protagonists from solving every problem the exact same way. If Elric can always whistle up an Elder God to handle issues for him why would he ever do anything else?
One thing that's fun about AW is the way you change up the attribute that generates bonus XP for the character. You mention that it's there to entice the characters to work outside their comfort zone. A gunlugger probably shouldn't open their mind to the malestrom but there's a tasty XP in it for them if they do.
Perhaps more explicit deals like this could produce this kind of failure—botch this attempt that you should be able to handle (or that relies on your most accomplished skill/trait/etc.) and I'll give you a bonus for trying to work it out through a method you aren't very good at and/or the success from that will be greater than it would if you just did what was expected.
