OngoingWorlds blog

Limitation & Penalty vs Complication and Consequence

This post was written by Alexander Williams (@squidlord).

An Exchange of Tweets

Last week this question was floated on Twitter.

David Onion Ball (@ongoingworlds)

If you allow characters in your RP to cast magic, do you always make sure there’s a penalty for using it? – Mar 18

To put it mildly, “a conversation ensued.” You can go to the linked Twitter procession if you want to read it in full, but the core conflict is that David espouses a position in which the actions of a character have a “price,” and I believe if you charge a character – or their player – for engaging with the story, you get what you reward: less engagement with the story.

I think that’s bad. Your opinion may differ.
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