As my friend Anthony says, RPGs are about making decisions. The characters’ actions, reactions, and interactions with the world are the real essence of play. The game is quite literally an activity shared by a group of humans sitting around the table, except there is one other player…

Usually, but not always, there is some sort of element beyond our control. Traditionally, this takes the shape of dice, but there are lots of other methods.

This is what decides whether a staircase collapses in our Mythos Mythras game. This is what determines if Garibaldi executes a flawless leap and saves the day or simply gets hurt. This is what ruled that Dougal McAllister gets crushed by a giant Venusian dragon rather than returning home with his friends In the Sky Riders of Venus.

Life for our characters is just like life for us. They have desires, goals, objectives, and beliefs, and they interact with a bunch of people in the world that also have their own. However, there are so many other forces beyond anybody’s control. None of us knows what’s going to happen, and that’s what makes RPGs and life so exciting and interesting.

A cracked piece of wood that finally snaps after years of pressure ~ the flap of a butterfly’s wings a continent away that causes the gust of air that makes Mr. Garibaldi to slip at ~ a piece of dust that gets into Dougal’s eye at the wrong moment ~ these little things make all the difference.

Some people eschew the role of fortune in RPGs, wanting more control over the narrative or no chance to interfere with the expectations or image of the character. Fair Enough.

Personally, I embrace the magic that those little pieces of plastic provide. Our characters don’t know that they exist, but they’re certainly aware that life is unpredictable and they’re not in control of everything. From my perspective, that makes fortune very realistic, And dare I say, immersive.