Converting D&D/Other Adventures to DFRPG

[sjmdw45]

Originally Posted by Anthony

The actual way most fiction works is by, essentially, dramatic attrition: a significant character usually has to suffer a certain number of dramatic setbacks before being taken out.

You're talking about novels and movies, not game systems, which is kind of like talking about gaming after you filter out all the games which result in failure. But still, even looking at novels and movies, I'm not sure I see this trend happening. In the Dresden Files novels, Murph may have experienced dramatic setbacks prior to spoiler, but Michael Carpenter and Thomas did not. In the recent D&D movie, Honor Among Thieves, Holga did not experience setbacks over the course of the movie unless you count the ones she starts with, being outcast and divorced. In The Suicide Squad, Polka Dot Man is actually on an upward trajectory ("I'm a SUPERHERO!!") when he encounters spoiler.

If the contention is that non-comedic stories are more narratively satisfying when there's some kind of dramatic momentum preventing characters from going from fine to dead instantly, that's plausible, and I agree that Luck can help make your games more likely to be narratively satisfying. So can healing or resurrection magic.

If the contention is that games which turn out to generate narratively-unsatisfying stories of failure are games which shouldn't have been played, I don't agree. The possibility of failure is inherent to challenging scenarios, and for some people including me, challenge is required for fun. Knowing that a really good plan for dragon-slaying reduces the odds of everyone dying--that's why good plans are worth spending mental effort on!

And sometimes it's fun to read stories about everything going wrong, anyway.