Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Beginning of the End" data-source="post: 5318173" data-attributes="member: 55271">And people complained about those, too.A properly executed metaplot looks like Heavy Gear: You completely describe the baseline of the setting at time X and then advance the setting through a separate line of supplements. People who want metaplot get metaplot; those who don't want metaplot can skip it and still get a fully supported setting.But that utilitarian design, unfortunately, defeats the reason companies use metaplots in the first place: The evolving narrative is a way to &quot;hook&quot; players into buying the supplements. Want to know what happens next? Buy the next supplement.The stupidest part of most metaplot-driven product lines is that they never actually give you a complete set of supplements: Kingdom A is described at point X. Kingdom B is described at point Y. Kingdom C is described at point Z. But since half of Kingdom A was blown up and its radioactive remnants invaded by Kingdom C at point Y, you don't actually have a usable Kingdom C supplement for point X nor a usable Kingdom A supplement for point Z.Congratulations! You've designed a product line for reading instead of playing.The truth, however, is that this works.... At least up to a point.The only reason the industry has moved away from this model (and not entirely so, as you note) is because players who hated that model in the '90s are now writing the supplements and designing the product lines.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Beginning of the End, post: 5318173, member: 55271"] And people complained about those, too. A properly executed metaplot looks like [i]Heavy Gear[/i]: You completely describe the baseline of the setting at time X and then advance the setting through a separate line of supplements. People who want metaplot get metaplot; those who don't want metaplot can skip it and still get a fully supported setting. But that utilitarian design, unfortunately, defeats the reason companies use metaplots in the first place: The evolving narrative is a way to "hook" players into buying the supplements. Want to know what happens next? Buy the next supplement. The stupidest part of most metaplot-driven product lines is that they never actually give you a complete set of supplements: Kingdom A is described at point X. Kingdom B is described at point Y. Kingdom C is described at point Z. But since half of Kingdom A was blown up and its radioactive remnants invaded by Kingdom C at point Y, you don't actually have a usable Kingdom C supplement for point X nor a usable Kingdom A supplement for point Z. Congratulations! You've designed a product line for reading instead of playing. The truth, however, is that this [i]works[/i].... At least up to a point. The only reason the industry has moved away from this model (and not entirely so, as you note) is because players who hated that model in the '90s are now writing the supplements and designing the product lines. [/QUOTE]

Verification