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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 8651936" data-attributes="member: 20564">It's interesting how people can have valid but contradictory opinions.&nbsp; A &quot;decade worth of supplements&quot; is a huge negative if I was running.&nbsp; Much of communication is shorthand.&nbsp; If I tell you &quot;it's a three story house&quot; there are a whole list of assumptions you can reasonably make - it likely has a kitchen, bedrooms, etc.&nbsp; But maybe you need to ask if it's a grand estate or a run down tenement.&nbsp; If I say I'm running the Forgotten Realms.&nbsp; That's a shorthand.&nbsp; Unless I say otherwise, players can have expectations about Waterdeep, the Ten Towns, Cormyr, Elminster, the Harpers, the Zhents, Balder's Gate, the Cult of the Dragon, etc.&nbsp; And if they know somethng I don't, what I mean when I say something and what they get out of it can differ greatly.&nbsp; Especially with how much the lore has been broken up between different supplements, and for some settings novels and other non-setting books.Sure, I can say &quot;this is the FR but X, Y and Z&quot; - which again brings us to points where I don't know something to know it has an expectation.I much prefer broad-strokes-only settings and homebrew, where unknowns become &quot;is this a grand estate or a worn down tenement&quot;, as opposed to players making assumptions and potentially having to rewind and retcon because I was tripped up in my job as the window for the players into the world.I see the other side - a rich world, lots of hooks, players excited to see sights they have heard of and possibly having a shared short-hand that contains multitudes of detail.&nbsp; It's not wrong at all.&nbsp; But it's wrong for me.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Blue, post: 8651936, member: 20564"] It's interesting how people can have valid but contradictory opinions. A "decade worth of supplements" is a huge negative if I was running. Much of communication is shorthand. If I tell you "it's a three story house" there are a whole list of assumptions you can reasonably make - it likely has a kitchen, bedrooms, etc. But maybe you need to ask if it's a grand estate or a run down tenement. If I say I'm running the Forgotten Realms. That's a shorthand. Unless I say otherwise, players can have expectations about Waterdeep, the Ten Towns, Cormyr, Elminster, the Harpers, the Zhents, Balder's Gate, the Cult of the Dragon, etc. And if they know somethng I don't, what I mean when I say something and what they get out of it can differ greatly. Especially with how much the lore has been broken up between different supplements, and for some settings novels and other non-setting books. Sure, I can say "this is the FR but X, Y and Z" - which again brings us to points where I don't know something to know it has an expectation. I much prefer broad-strokes-only settings and homebrew, where unknowns become "is this a grand estate or a worn down tenement", as opposed to players making assumptions and potentially having to rewind and retcon because I was tripped up in my job as the window for the players into the world. I see the other side - a rich world, lots of hooks, players excited to see sights they have heard of and possibly having a shared short-hand that contains multitudes of detail. It's not wrong at all. But it's wrong for me. [/QUOTE]

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