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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8998765" data-attributes="member: 42582">So now any description of things is a map?By that measure, because when I run MHRP I come up with Scene Distinctions, which can include descriptions of places (eg Dusty Halls or Skies Brooding with Clouds or Neatly Trimmed Hedges), MHRP has a "map". What information in my island write-up might the heroes not learn? How does that fit with the Strife player (ie GM's) job of Revealing the situation on the island?The Signs of the Gods are narrated at the opening of the session. So is the Arrival, so the players straight away learn about Dares, Chryse and the Townsfolk. The only NPC in the list who does not come into play immediately is Thesela.In the course of the Trials that reveal the island and lead up to the Battle, Thesela and her cultists in the under-temple, or Dares and his debts will be revealed.  When I ran this island, the heroes discovered the under-temple while trying to repair the sewers - at the table, this was my narration (as GM) as part of the process of revealing things.The principle of Reveal the island is different from D&D as typically played, which has no such principle.   Here is what I posted about Agon (now for the third time):The prep is obviously very different from D&D. As I posted, no maps are prepared.The "mysteries" are not pre-answered as pat of prep - they are answered in the course of play.And there is no use of secret/hidden information to determine whether or not things are certain or uncertain and hence to determine whether or not dice are rolled. If the opponent the heroes face is not worthy, they prevail. If it is worthy, there is a contest. There is no adjudication by reference to a hidden gameboard as is found in typical D&D play. It's this difference of technique that explains the very different form that prep takes.Here's another way to look at it: could you run an AD&D session on Knossos from my write-up? You would need to stat the NPCs. You would need maps of the temple and the undertemple. You would probably need a map of the cliff and surrounding area for the arrival.Then you would hit the following sorts of problems: in AD&D there is no canonical way of determining whether the PCs comfort Chryse such that she doesn't hurl herself into the sea. There is no such thing as a "strife level" which can escalate if the PCs don't stop the storm.And in AD&D the PCs can use a Commune spell (or similar) to ask the gods the meaning of their signs, or the answers to the mysteries. So the GM would need to think about what these mean and be ready to provide those answers, which presumably would then guide the players' declarations of action for their PCs.These are some of the ways in which prepping for Agon and prepping for typical D&D are very different things.</blockquote>

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