Ret-Con

Aos · November 28, 2006, 12:37:53 PM

Quote from: SosthenesShould I change their diapers while I'm at it?

They probably would have ended in the Pits anyway (at least it's a probability), so why interrupt a perfectly good game just to get into rules-lawyering? I might talk to them after the session and reveal that there were only twelve instead of thirteen Barbazu in the warm-up fight as a whoops-sorry-gift.

The game must go on. Interrupting the flow just for some trivial details like that wouldn't be worth it. A character's death would be an exception, of course.

i agree with your stance on this. I see where James is coming from- but ironically enough, i don;t think rewinding builds trust. i think it does quite the opposite, and will encourage players to look for fault- which can get old really fast. I've actrually had a couple of players tell me that they don't want to know about stuff like this after it happens. We rarely retcon ANYTHING, but we do have an understanding that if a rule was misapplied at one point and we learn the correct way to deal with it, we do so from then on.

James McMurray · November 28, 2006, 12:41:46 PM

I could see where it might encourage looking for faults, but that hasn't happened with my group. I'm really lucky with my group. It lets me do a lot of things that might not work too well in other groups (like retcon major screwups).

And I'll point out again that it's only the truly major screwups that get retconned (normally only character death). Anything else is either glossed over or compensated for by a future fudge of similar proportions in favor of the group. I'm definitely not advocating rolling back time willy nilly.

We play every Friday and it happens maybe once every few months, usually when we switch games to something we're rusty at.

flyingmice · November 28, 2006, 12:58:35 PM

Quote from: Aosi agree with your stance on this. I see where James is coming from- but ironically enough, i don;t think rewinding builds trust. i think it does quite the opposite, and will encourage players to look for fault- which can get old really fast. I've actrually had a couple of players tell me that they don't want to know about stuff like this after it happens. We rarely retcon ANYTHING, but we do have an understanding that if a rule was misapplied at one point and we learn the correct way to deal with it, we do so from then on.

That's the usual way I handle it. Retconning is only used in extreme screwups which resulted in a monstrous injustice being done. That's something like five times in the last 25+ years.

-clash

el diablo robotico · November 28, 2006, 04:46:41 PM

I've retcon'd in the past, but only with minor setting details that I got incorrect.

This happened in my Ptolus game. I actually ran the first session of my game before I had the big book. We only had the player's guide to use. I had several minor but relevant details wrong, which I happily retcon'd in the next session after I got the book. No biggie for me or the players.

I think it's entirely a matter of your group dynamics and how serious the retcon is.

Ret-Con

Aos

James McMurray

flyingmice

el diablo robotico