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Another issue is less crunch heavy systems. If you're playing something like FATE or the ultimate fluff only system freeform you REALLY need everyone on the same page where things are going to go. A lot of my games are mostly roleplay with little dice rolling. So keeping my players on the same page as me so I don't make them mad with a twist or they accidentally ruin the plot is...well it's just easier to use open communication I find than hope they don't do the wrong thing that renders the game unwinnable. |
When it comes to the plot however I both agree and disagree. If your players are invested in their character no plot twist, not even a massive change in tone should drive them away if it is done right. After all, the character they care about just had a tone shift in his life. In my last game I literally had an unannounced 180 degrees tone change and people went with it fine because I made sure they knew their place in all of that.
The key in my view is that it's done right. And what I mean by that is that you plan it out ahead of time and make sure your players have all the tools to handle your change during character creation. In that game I mentioned I set the players up to have high combat skills. I of course lied why they'd need them but I made sure they had them AND that it made sense in the flavor of the first part. That way, when the second part came their reaction would not be "OMG, different game, can't compete!" but "Cool. Now I know why you really wanted me to have that."
Also, as you can tell I am definitively a storyteller in love with surprises and plot twists. Also I am deliberately keeping the details of the last game vague because I am thinking of running it again with different people and don't want to risk spoilers.