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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5576557" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think the only thing I differ from in your post is the second and third sentences of this passage. I prefer a game in which the outline is jointly agreed (although, in practice, the GM is likely to be more proactive in respect of it), and in which the GM provides the backstory but the players provide most of the forward momentum. And as long as the backstory hasn't been revealed in play, I regard it as entirely provisional and malleable.One consequence of this is that, when I consider how earlier actions may have later consequences, I focus less on the internal logic of the fictional world, and more on the sorts of complications or thematic pressures that reintroduction of the old NPC or relationship or whatever else will have on the current state of play. And because this is highly relevant to the attitudes and interests of the players at the moment, it means that their attitudes and interests have a big influence on how the fiction unfolds, beyond just the actions that their PCs take within the gameworld.Very simple example: whether or not the NPC they helped or slighted in Act One turns out to secretly be a cultist of Orcus will turn much more on whether or not that would be interesting now we're in Act Three, than on any world or NPC description that I wrote down during some earlier moment of GM prep.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5576557, member: 42582"] I think the only thing I differ from in your post is the second and third sentences of this passage. I prefer a game in which the outline is jointly agreed (although, in practice, the GM is likely to be more proactive in respect of it), and in which the GM provides the backstory but the players provide most of the forward momentum. And as long as the backstory hasn't been revealed in play, I regard it as entirely provisional and malleable. One consequence of this is that, when I consider how earlier actions may have later consequences, I focus less on the internal logic of the fictional world, and more on the sorts of complications or thematic pressures that reintroduction of the old NPC or relationship or whatever else will have on the current state of play. And because this is highly relevant to the attitudes and interests of the players at the moment, it means that their attitudes and interests have a big influence on how the fiction unfolds, beyond just the actions that their PCs take within the gameworld. Very simple example: whether or not the NPC they helped or slighted in Act One turns out to secretly be a cultist of Orcus will turn much more on whether or not that would be interesting now we're in Act Three, than on any world or NPC description that I wrote down during some earlier moment of GM prep. [/QUOTE]

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