We're off to see the wizard!

In fantasy settings, when something seems out of place or cannot be explained, the age-old answer is to simply say "A wizard did it."

"How do you even get a halfbreed of those two species?!" A wizard did it.

"This timeline doesn't match up here." A wizard made it happen.

As infuriating as this answer can be, it's important not to forget its true meaning: not to get so hung up on the tiny inconsistencies of a plot that you can't enjoy the story as a whole.

Sometimes the answer is that there is no answer; things don't make sense, and that's okay. That's what fantasy is all based on. But when you are in the position of writing fantasy, anything that can make sense should, even if not immediately or obviously, or you risk losing the reader. When you role play fantasy (or pretty much anything else in fiction), you need to balance the two. How do you avoid the already present wizards without adding too many of your own? The great role players know how to do it. Whether or not I'm one of them is something you can decide for yourself, but I have picked up a few useful tips over the years and maybe you'd like to know them.