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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6808017" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think that the connection between pre-authoring a world and pre-authoring a story can be tighter than you suggest.If the GM has a world pre-authored, then it is likely that the "secret backstory" - ie those elements of the fiction known to the GM (in virtue of his/her authorship) but not the players - will be drawn upon by the GM to adjudicate action declarations. But in these circumstances, the players are then - at least to some extent - firing blind when they make action declarations for their PCs. As well as the overtly-framed scene there are these other unknown elements that the GM will draw upon to help determine outcomes.This is a type of burden on the agency of the players as contributors to the shared fiction.There is an interesting question as to what counts as secret backstory. In classic dungeoneering D&D, the location of monsters, treasures etc starts secret but is knowable to the players by use of scouting, divination etc. In the 4e DMG's example of a skill challenge, the Duke is unable to be intimidated by the PCs, but this is learnable by the players if they declare Insight checks for their PCs.But sometimes the GM's secret backstory isn't discoerable by the players (via their PCs) at all: eg on such-and-such a day the Duke will be assassinated by political enemies whom the players (and their PCs) have never even heard of, let alone displayed any interest in.The thing of going N or E is interesting - if there is no reason for the players to choose one over the other, and nothing turns on that choice (eg it's not the case that fireball spells are more powerful when cast travelling to the E rather than the N) - then it's not entirely clear to me how the GM is screwing over the players by treating the choice of direction as mere colour that makes no practical difference to what the PCs meet.Which also goes back to stake-setting: if the GM has set no stakes for the choice of direction of travel, or there are not even in-principle stakes (eg the players have no reason to think that casting Augury as to which way to go would help), then why should the GM care about which direction the PCs choose?</blockquote>

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