A GMing telling the players about the gameworld is not like real life

[pemerton]

Works great in the context of multiple PC groups within the same campaign - the context he assumed.

Do you actually do this in your sandbox games?

 

[Guest 85555]

Do you actually do this in your sandbox games?

If you are going to have multiple PC groups in the same sandbox campaign, my experience (just trying all the different methods I could) is this is the only real way to make it work----otherwise it can be maddening keeping track of the different areas and NPCs being affected by PC behavior. If the PCs are not intersecting that much, it is easier to hand wave. But I've had parties in two different campaigns end up in serious conflict with each other, and that proved very challenging to track. Having the time between sessions reflect real time is one easy way to manage it (though it has its downsides). However, honestly I didn't feel it was worth the trouble after about a year and half of trying to do that. I just said 'screw it this is a multiverse and both parties are in slightly different realities'. That approach ended up working a lot better for me personally. It also made things interesting because I got to see two very different realities play out over two campaigns in the same setting. There was still some intersection, but there was enough freedom to alter details, that it made my role as the GM more fun as well.

 

[S'mon]

Do you realize how bunker mentality in the midst of an all-important culture war this ...reads as?

Culture war?

So, Brendan and Pemerton should put their gaming differences aside, recognise their all-important political-cultural commonalities; and unite against ...me?
Not sure I like that idea...

 

[pemerton]

The problem is that nothing you described there comes close to rising to the level of Mother May I. It's a disingenuous use of the term as a pejorative to put down a playstyle that is different than yours.

You do realise, don't you, that I used the phrase "Mother may I" only because it was used in the post I was responding to.

 

[S'mon]

Do you actually do this in your sandbox games?

I did it for about 18 months in my multi-group Wilderlands Stonehell Dungeon game, yup. If group played weekly, a week would pass in game between delves. If fortnightly then 2 weeks passed. I am somewhat doing it (time passes roughly 1 month game = 1 month real) in my current two-group Primeval Thule campaign. In the Thule game adventures last typically 2-3 sessions, not a single session delve, so it needs to be looser.

My Stonehell game had the Dungeon as a pure sandbox. The Thule game is semi-sandboxy; there tend to be several hooks, and players bite on what interests or seek out contacts who provide more hooks. But it's a lot closer to 4e style than the Stonehell game was, eg I'll use Bangs, player Heroic Narratives are important, I'll use Pemertonian Scene Framing...

 

[Maxperson]

You do realise, don't you, that I used the phrase "Mother may I" only because it was used in the post I was responding to.

Perpetuating incorrect definitions and/or pejoratives doesn't help a situation. It just makes it worse.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[pemerton]

I am somewhat doing it (time passes roughly 1 month game = 1 month real) in my current two-group Primeval Thule campaign. In the Thule game adventures last typically 2-3 sessions, not a single session delve, so it needs to be looser.

Right, the single-session delve does seem fairly crucial to making the Gygax system work. (Without the need for loosening.)

In the single-session delve sort of game, what do you do if the clock is about to strike midnight and - for whatever reason - the group is still stuck on the 7th level? (As best I recall, the canonical books - Gygax and Moldvay - don't address this.)

 

[S'mon]

Right, the single-session delve does seem fairly crucial to making the Gygax system work. (Without the need for loosening.)

In the single-session delve sort of game, what do you do if the clock is about to strike midnight and - for whatever reason - the group is still stuck on the 7th level? (As best I recall, the canonical books - Gygax and Moldvay - don't address this.)

I say "Ok you go home now.'

They have never been stuck at end of session, though there was the Out of Time Mine session where it was close and I had to be a bit generous in ruling when they had breached the temporal anomaly trapping them.

 

[pemerton]

They have never been stuck at end of session

Good luck, or good management? And if the latter, by players or GM? (Eg how far do "generous" rulings go?)