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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 7211759" data-attributes="member: 71699">In a non-sandbox approach, PCs are lead from "room" to "room". (I don't mean necessarily literal rooms here, but narrative ones.) Some people call these nodes, which really is just how you branch them. Everything is fairly pre-scripted and we have strong confidence that the PCs will go through it all in roughly the order it is laid out. The value of that approach is that we can include a lot of detail without wasting a lot of work, because almost all details will be seen by players. Look at the discussion of the unused nodes in SKT to understand reactions to loss of efficiency when their not! Think of this approach as a theatre play: it is very efficient at telling a story you want to tell.A sand box, or living world, can't really work that way because we are open to our players going in whatever direction they find compelling. We'd need a vast number of "rooms" if we wanted to accommodate that! Hence a different approach is used. Instead, we focus on our personalities and what they want (motives) and can do (means). We prepare lightly, but for the same reason Tolkien gave we ensure we have a rough idea of the area and points of interest (places). Foreshadowing has a different connotation here, rather than predicting a pre-scripted event, it shares information about motives and events that players can't presently see but might (or might not) effect them. For example, if we have a monastic order that is trying to steal a unique magical item from the characters, we can foreshadow that threat with a symbolic dream. Will the dream come true? Who knows: that depends on the players. Or if an ancient red dragon is stirring, and about to devastate our kingdom, earthquakes are felt in the region. Will the dragon survive to achieve said devastation? Again, who knows: it depends on our heroes. It's possible even that one of our NPCs takes on the task and defeats it. All off screen. Our theatre is improv.Recurrence is different and quite simple, it means that Kazook, the deep gnome trader that the player rescued from the gelatinous cubes, a year later when they are back in Blingdenstone is delighted to see them, offers warm hospitality, and now has a toddler. The world feels more real because Kazook didn't cease to exist the moment he went off stage. Recurrence means that the kin of the High Priestess that the players slew, are petitioning for her True Resurrection. And regardless of whether that petition succeeds of fails, the PCs are marked for retribution. Consequences, may be a better word to use. In fact, I believe I will add it!</blockquote>

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