>DM decides to retcon something that happened in a past adventure

>>55135261
>DM decides to retcon something that happened in a past adventure
>runs it past his players, explaining why, and what the issue is
>players grudgingly agree, and are a bit salty, but since they agreed to it, the campaign doesn't collapse simply because of the retcon

>DM tries to keep the gold rewards low, money penalties high, and to put a heavy focus on life and upkeep
>players love it because the DM clearly stated what sort of campaign it would be beforehand and didn't simply change the tone of the campaign in the middle of it because he thought the PCs were getting too strong

>DM introduces a literal moral compass
>Players look at it
>its four points read "kill, eat, befriend, take a bath in it"

>>55135261
>I can't communicate: The Probleming

>retconning

It's basically admitting you are a bad GM.

>>55135261
TALK
TO
YOUR
PLAYERS

>>55136077
What happens when the players ask for a retcon? It's happened to me on multiple occasions, but I've never granted it. OTOH, it usually led to bad blood.

>>55136135
>What happens when the players ask for a retcon?

That's them telling you you're a bad GM.

>>55136227

Well, I've already did interesting retcon, but it was only during CoC oneshots, and it was basically a "let's try this option and let's see what happens" leading to an end of the scenario (they all die, they left before uncovering something...), followed by a retcon of "we don't do that" or "we do this before doing that".

It feels a bit like a new game+, discovering the true last boss or the secret ending, and it can works pretty well (at least with oneshot...).

In the same vein, I made them go through a scenario in the countryside, where they basically steamrolled and skipped most of the things (which was in fact related to their characters) and dealt with one big element of the scenario, but just left afterward (in a "yup, definitely not trying to uncover the truth about this"), and the next session, they played another group, much more inclined toward investigation (and with other original goals), which arrived in the village several days after the first one departed, dealing with their other characters consequences.

>>55136455
>It feels a bit like a new game+, discovering the true last boss or the secret ending, and it can works pretty well (at least with oneshot...).

That's more like using save points, which I've grown to appreciate more in my return to old video games that don't include them in appropriate intervals.

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>>55135261
>>DM decides to retcon something that happened in a past adventure
>>does it because they have big plans for the campaign
>>campaign is improved because everyone appreciates the change for the better

>>DM tries to keep the gold rewards low, money penalties high, and to put a heavy focus on life and upkeep
>>does it to keep the players motivated to keep adventuring and collecting bounties a la Cowboy Bebop
>>player's enjoy the anticipation and theme of challenging circumstances

>>DM introduces a character to serve as a moral compass
>>does it because they've felt they haven't communicated well enough what their setting's interpretations of good and evil are
>>players enjoy the NPC's insights about the setting and like the NPC's characterization