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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 7059465" data-attributes="member: 16586">Let's talk about nonlinear generation of fiction. So in my mind compelling fiction is just as much about what we don't say about the lives of our characters as about the things that we do say. You need to elide some details to leave a bit of mystery and also because there is only so much time to game. This does not have to be figured out beforehand. Sometimes it is better if it is not because we want to build in some flexibility to make sure it is relevant and matches up with what everyone else brings to the table.Let's make with the Actual Play. I am currently a player in an online game of Blades in the Dark. My Hound, Candros Slaine is a former imperial sniper that was burned and sent back home to Duskvol to finish the sentence that enlisting got him out of. After he finished his stretch at Iron Hook prison he returned home to find his wife missing and his kids stuck in the same orphanage he grew up in. Seeking the means to find his wife and get his kids back he has joined up with a group of weapons smugglers through an old military contact. That's pretty much the extent of my knowledge of Candros. It's enough of a compelling premise to play and make decisions for the character. I am sure he has far more history than that. I want to know more about him, and so do the other players at the table. It is just not critical that we know right now. There's a lot to a single life. I could not possibly detail everyone Candros has ever met or had dealings with in the past, but that does not mean that stuff should never come up. I should be able to figure some more of that stuff up as we go, take suggestions from the other players, etc. I mean I could work out a bunch of stuff in secret with the GM, but that would require extensive blue booking and might never come up or matter to the scope of play. Why should I have to do so? It's an even bigger deal for GMs. If a single character has more history than I would ever be able to work out, can you imagine the hundreds of characters the GM has to deal with. There is also the fun of not knowing. I do not believe that the GM has to miss out on that fun of not knowing how things will turn out or what that mystery could be. Some stuff we might never know, and that only adds to the interest.</blockquote>

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