Editing One Simple Thing (section)

=== Cause/Effect ===

Original post and barely three pages of discussion, [http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=244463 here].

:Cause and Effect: In the real world, cause must precede effect. A warrior swings a sword, and his aim is true. Because his aim is true, the blow lands. Because the blow lands, his enemy is wounded. Because the enemy is wounded he surrenders. In reality there is no other way that chain of events can be arranged. Only the earlier things can cause the later ones.

:But fiction is not the real world. In making fiction you can decide, first, that the enemy will surrender. You explain that by saying that he is wounded. Because of that, the blow must land. Because of that, the warriors aim is true. The surrender (Cause) precedes the warrior's true aim (Effect) in the order in which you write the story, but not in the order in which your audience will read it ... so from the reader's point of view, your process plays havoc with cause and effect.

:Playing an RPG you are writing the story, not reading it. What's more, you are writing a story together with a group. Most RPGs have mechanics to help you combine all of your thoughts and desires into one shared decision. These mechanics very often put a lot of effort into deciding one thing about the story (a cause), then work quickly from there to decide what else happens (the effects).

:For instance, in Task Resolution systems the mechanics decide what happened first, in the order the story will be told. They decide, for instance, that the warriors aim is true, then work from there. Contrariwise, in Conflict Resolution systems, the mechanics decide whatever is most important to the players first, no matter where it arrives in the order of the story. They decide, for instance, that the enemy will surrender, then work from there.

:Both of these ways of telling a story together work just fine. What's more, these are only the two best-explored schemes. You can create these pieces of story in any order that makes a story that people can read. There are (quite likely) many schemes for doing this that we haven't yet explored, which will have their own unique strengths and weaknesses.

Again, no disagreement to speak of.  Am I getting soft and uncontroversial?  We chatted a bit about some different ways to arrange resolution though, and that was fun.