Toturi grinds an axe

[toturi]

Maria. Bad guys? They cheat.

So why can't the good guys cheat too?

[iago]

So why can't the good guys cheat too?

Seemed like common sense to me, so I'm at a loss how to give you a response. Bad guys don't have to be constantly-in-play characters who promote a sense of fairness around the table. They are tools of the story and of the GM. That means sometimes they get bent in ways that involve some hand waving or rule alterations. When I GM I rarely have full character sheets for the NPCs as it is; I know what kinds of effects I need them to be able to pull off and what sorts of challenges they need to be, so they are simply conveyed in my notes as such. The fact that NPC write-ups are sometimes more detailed than that in the RPG as published is a concession to the notion that some folks need more than a few scant sketchy notes.

[toturi]

Seemed like common sense to me, so I'm at a loss how to give you a response. Bad guys don't have to be constantly-in-play characters who promote a sense of fairness around the table. They are tools of the story and of the GM. That means sometimes they get bent in ways that involve some hand waving or rule alterations. When I GM I rarely have full character sheets for the NPCs as it is; I know what kinds of effects I need them to be able to pull off and what sorts of challenges they need to be, so they are simply conveyed in my notes as such. The fact that NPC write-ups are sometimes more detailed than that in the RPG as published is a concession to the notion that some folks need more than a few scant sketchy notes.

But the good guys (presumably the PCs) are all on the same team, as long as the goal gets scored, why would a player feel that it is unfair that another PC scored (anymore so than a bad guy could foul and get away with it)? Did Pele's team mates feel it was unfair he scored the goals and won the match? Or did they feel it was more unfair that he kept getting dirty tackles?

I suppose it is a matter of fairness. Many GMs and writers feel that it is alright to allow their N(GM)PCs to bend/break the rules while expecting the PCs to play safely within the rules.

[iago]

How is wanting a level playing field for both NPCs and PCs idiosyncratic?

Here's your level playing field, then:

- The GM gets to decide when you live or die as suits the story
- The GM determines everything your character gets to do
- The GM gets to say you have to spend the next three sessions on the sidelines because your story isn't the focus
- You never get to make the story; your only job is to inhabit it

How do you like being on an even playing field with NPCs now?

[toturi]

Here's your level playing field, then:

- The GM gets to decide when you live or die as suits the story
- The GM determines everything your character gets to do
- The GM gets to say you have to spend the next three sessions on the sidelines because your story isn't the focus
- You never get to make the story; your only job is to inhabit it

How do you like being on an even playing field with NPCs now?

So in exchange for being the focus of the story and for being able to determine certain actions of your character, your PC cannot cheat while the NPCs around yours get to do so? Apply the focus on the NPCs. Now that they are the focus of the stories, do these NPCs suddenly uncheat then?  
For example, Marcone is usually an NPC in the Dresden Files. But in Even Hand, he is under the spotlight. Does that mean in Even Hand, that he is a different person?

[iago]

For example, Marcone is usually an NPC in the Dresden Files. But in Even Hand, he is under the spotlight. Does that mean in Even Hand, that he is a different person?

Fiction's protagonists are not always game protagonists.

[toturi]

Fiction's protagonists are not always game protagonists.

Are the story's protagonists not always the game protagonists too?

[iago]

I dont think this spin off had much to contribute to its original topic, so I have split it off.  It offers no resource value either, so I'll be moving it. There's also nothing else to be said that will help, so I'm locking it.