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For most of a Lovecraftesque game with at least three players, "roles rotate clockwise at the end of a scene" (LCQ 14), shifting over just one place at the table. But during the Epilogue...

...as an exception to the normal order of play, pass roles left until the Narrator role is held by someone who was a Watcher during the Final Horror. The person to their left will be the Witness. (LCQ 46)

Why this sudden change? What purpose does it serve or problem does it solve?

(references are from the pdf)

BESW
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1 Answers1

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It's usually the case that The Witness becomes The Narrator in the next scene. However, during Final Horror both of these roles carry greater narrative power than the roles of Watchers and have comparatively greater influence over the way the plot is wrapped up than in other scenes. This is caused by the fact that the Narrator can almost single-handedly decide the nature of the horror and it falls to the Witness to decide how the main character reacts, forcing plot into a direction Watchers have relatively little influence over.

It only makes sense to make it up a bit to the Watchers (plural, as in games with more than 3 players both Narrator and Witness roles are in the hands of former Watchers). Effective double-rotation also has an additional bonus of landing the Narrator role into the hands of a player who was a Watcher the longest. You could reason that a double-shift could be used in all scenes, but in even-numbered groups it would mean players only get to experience one of the roles.

eimyr
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