NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="robertsconley" data-source="post: 9640477" data-attributes="member: 13383">The main physical format is what I call situation reports. These are working documents with notes on motivations, goals, and plans for factions and NPCs. They serve as a memory aid and a projection of what would unfold if the PCs don’t interfere.To illustrate this I will use my Nomar campaign set in the Majestic Wilderlands that I ran back in 2012. To provide some context here is the first campaign log I posted.<a href="https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2012/08/gurps-majestic-wilderlands-campaign.html" target="_blank">GURPS Majestic Wilderlands: Campaign Update #1</a>Here is the first part of what happened.<a href="https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-sandbox-campaign-nomar-campaign-part-1.html" target="_blank">A Sandbox Campaign, the Nomar Campaign Part 1</a>The campaign started when the players decided they wanted to be a group of mercenaries. I listed the different places in the Majestic Wilderlands where mercenaries were being employed, and they opted to play in Nomar.Some background on Nomar if you are interested<a href="https://www.batintheattic.com/downloads/Noble%20Houses%20Rev%202.pdf" target="_blank">Noble Houses of Nomar.</a><a href="https://www.batintheattic.com/downloads/Nomar_Region.pdf" target="_blank">Regional Map of Nomar</a> I attached the handout the players got to this post. Campaign Starter, Mercernary.Next I started a local map. I never finished the polished version as the players moved elsewhere before I had it finished.[ATTACH=full]402763[/ATTACH]As well as a map of the main settlement[ATTACH=full]402765[/ATTACH]Next, I made a situation map. I like do these in poetic style as the graphics helps remember things.[ATTACH=full]402764[/ATTACH]There are important locations highlighted there. That I have notes on including who there, what resources there are. Goals, motivations, and plans.The main set of notes look like this.What will happens is periodically I will update the situation report above as the campaign unfolds. In the case of Abberset my notes got a minor update when the party returned to Abberset at this.And after they left the region it didn't matter as I had to focus on the new area they headed too.How the "Timeline" EmergesI don’t write out a traditional “event-by-date” timeline in advance. Instead:The situation report functions as a latent timeline, it describes what factions and NPCs will do if nothing changes.As players act, I update the notes. New entries are added with in-world dates (e.g., “Portly Pomp 13th, 4460 BCCC”), reflecting what happened or shifted.When the PCs left the region, I stopped updating it, just as a historian would stop writing a chronicle once the scene moves.Example of a situation update.This would be note in a program I use called the Keep by nBos. Or an entry in a notebook if it is a face to face session.These entries are not scripts. They’re branches of potential action, modified by player intervention, oracles, or rolls.Memory & OrganizationA lot of this is “in my head,” but it's supported by:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Maps</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Character writeups</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Spatial context</li> </ul>I’ve always linked events to geography, which helps me recall timelines like a mental gazetteer. This technique, which is a variant of the Palace of Memory technique, associates characters and events with geography.This is why I recommend referees develop a method of organizing info that works for them. It must track people, their motivations, and events across time and geography in a coherent way.Why I Don’t Use ClocksI’m not against other folks using clocks. I don’t use them because, in my experience, chains of events don’t progress in neat, measured increments. Too many interconnected factors are in play in my campaigns, and clocks don’t capture those interconnections in a way that works for me.From what I’ve read, clocks are great when you need visible escalation—they give structure to looming threats or timed developments. But they don’t work as well for causal branching that unfolds across geography or depends on multiple actors with conflicting goals.So yes, my timelines exist, but they’re not segmented wheels. They’re conditional flows of action—embedded in geography and narrative—updated as the PCs interact with the world. The structure is procedural, just not tied to a particular format.As for GM fiat, while I get that you're using it to mean "the GM making authorial decisions," I think two things need to be pointed out.First, like "railroading," GM fiat is often used as a pejorative, even if unintentionally. It implies arbitrariness or unearned authority, and that colors how people receive it, especially when comparing styles.Second, saying "the GM makes authorial decisions" is fine as far as it goes, but it often skips over how those decisions are made. And that’s critical. There’s a big difference between a referee who decides things on a whim and one who uses structured methods, goals, constraints, causal logic, oracles, even randomness, to shape outcomes. The process behind the decision is what defines the experience at the table, not just the fact that the GM made a call.I think the key issue isn’t that the referee makes decisions, it’s how those decisions are made.In World in Motion, I’m not inventing outcomes to shape a story. I’m resolving developments based on prior events, character goals, constraints, and, when needed, randomizers. The decisions are grounded in the setting’s internal logic, not narrative intent.That process matters. It’s like alternate history writing, anyone can say “what if,” but a good alt-history works through consequences based on the world as it was. The value comes from disciplined plausibility, not just authorial invention.So yes, the referee is deciding. But it’s not all the same kind of decision. The process matters, there’s a big difference between directing outcomes and adjudicating plausible consequences.I hope I addressed every point you raised.</blockquote>

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