Comments on: Adventure Prep: My Rewind button

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:37:14 +0000

In 25 years I’ve only done it once, and that was in a series of sessions just before I went to be stationed on a desert island for two years. One of them put on a cloak of poison, and the group was overrun. The whole night was grim. The next night, we went back and continued as if the cloak hadn’t been donned. It was tough, and I haven’t done it since.

By: ChattyDM

ChattyDM — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:01:55 +0000

Lol @ Gazza’s Hawe$0m3n3$$! (You can see I’m an older fart when I try to type in l33t)

Graham: I agree that any ret con involving player choices should be actual re-takes with full autonomy on part of players and an agreed upon stance on metagaming. These i’ve never really had to do.

Buzz: Pee on a flame out eh? Quite an effective image!

Gazza: My players are very understanding… and we could have skipped the Ret Con. But seeing everyone’s reaction after my proposed revision, I think I made the good choice.

By: GAZZA

GAZZA — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:03:41 +0000

I can’t think of a case where I’ve ever done a “story based retcon” the way you describe. I’ve certainly been behind the screen staring down at a TPK in the past, but generally speaking I avert that at the time. (And it’s one of the reasons Champions is my favourite game - death is basically non-existent, and it’s GOOD to get beaten now and then).

This isn’t by any stretch a claim that I’m “teh hawesome” while Chatty is “teh suxx0r” - it’s probably just a difference in styles and players. My players tend to be happy as long as the XP/hour ratio is sufficiently high for their tastes.

By: Buzzregog

Buzzregog — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:20:34 +0000

Yes, think they have all been minor or at least not require any kind of major mind wipe to accomplish. I once had to totally retcon the opening 2 sessions of
Nigth Below however to keep the group on track and actually interested in helping the people.

I usually have a pretty good feel for what the players are expecting/unsatisfied with so try to keep them out of it as much as possible.

Depends on how far gone things get. Most folks pick up on a flame out and pee on it early I would hope.

The goal is a fun time. It really is up to the DM, in my opinion, to keep things rolling and everyone on board. If the DM is expecting everyone to stay in lock step I’d say he is headed toward unhappiness.

By: Graham|ve4grm

Graham|ve4grm — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:24:43 +0000

Alrighty, let’s see…

- Yes, usually minor things. Most of the time, I’ll catch that things are going badly before it’s complete, and do a minor retcon on the spot, but even when you don’t catch it it’s usually minor. For major situations, I do a full rewind (see question 3).

- Yes. I would like to have input into the retcon, and it should be minor as well.

- What is acceptable depends on the group and the situation. If it’s very involved or extensive, of involves PC choices, retcon by DM fiat is a bad idea. Instead, consider rewinding and replaying the scene with the PCs as though it hadn’t happened.

- I doubt that many DMs/Players are completely against it. The ones that I would think might be are the deep RPers, but when it involves something that seems against character, they probably still wouldn’t mind.