Game 07

[crawlininmytome]

[Today, our lovely Angeburger is sitting at a table with a cup of tea. Currently, she has a chessboard in front of her along with a book called "Knox's Decalogue" to the side. Every now and then, she'll flip through the book and then moves a few pieces around on the chessboard as if she's trying to mirror someone else's playing style.] ... Tch.

Comments

[wizardoftheweek]

According to Monsignor Ronald A. Knox...

1. The criminal must be someone mentioned in the early part of the story, but must not be anyone whose thoughts the reader has been allowed to follow.

2. All supernaural or preternatural agencies are ruled out as a matter of course.

3. Not more than one secret room or passage is allowable.

4. No hitherto undiscovered poisons may be used, nor any appliance which will need a long scientific explanation at the end.

5. No Chinaman must figure in the story.

6. No accident must ever help the detective, nor must he ever have an unaccountable intuition which proves to be right.

7. The detective must not himself commit the crime.

8. The detective must not light on any clues which are not instantly produced for the inspection of the reader.

9. The stupid friend of the detective, the Watson, must not conceal any thoughts which pass through his mind; his intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.

10. Twin brothers, and doubles generally, must not appear unless we have been duly prepared for them.

These rules, while originally intending to defeat cliches, simply created more of them. Most writers of detective stories, particularly that of the noir genre, take a good amount of glee in breaking these rules.

[crawlininmytome]

I know my brother wouldn't cut corners by throwing out these rules if he became a Gamemaster. Unlike the witches, he's not as incompetent.

[wizardoftheweek]

Unfortunately these rules also make matters predictable.

[crawlininmytome]

It's predictable if you're dealing with a typical third-grader detective novel.

[wizardoftheweek]

By that logic, all books that follow these rules are the same level.

[crawlininmytome]

... [pausing for a moment] Books, huh...?

[wizardoftheweek]

The rules were formulated for the purpose of literature, yes.

[crawlininmytome]

...

[and talking to herself] I wonder... Could each game be like a book of some sort? The truth can be seen in multiple ways by people, so...

[wizardoftheweek]

Hmm?

[crawlininmytome]

... Do you believe in multiple truths compared to one single truth?

[wizardoftheweek]

Explain.

[crawlininmytome]

Let's say there was an accident on an island that happened a couple of years ago. One person could write a story about it and keep true to it's facts. However, another person could take that accident and turn it into something completely different.

[wizardoftheweek]

In the literary world, that's called "adaptation". It's typically done to make facts more "entertaining".

[crawlininmytome]

Adaptations, huh? It feels like I'm at the tip of something.

[wizardoftheweek]

Perhaps. Though lacking the details of your thoughts, I'm in no position to help.

[crawlininmytome]

No, I think you helped out a great deal somehow.