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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 8921564" data-attributes="member: 71699">With the caveat that I am replying prior to reading all posts thus far in the thread, and accepting the premises ad arguendo, this proposal got me thinking about some ways I have seen a situation become compelling.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As you note, clearly speak to something the players have shown their PCs care about. That can be as to the situation itself (the content of the situation) and as to the foreseeable outcomes of the situation (the envisioned consequences), and connected with that, what got them here; which all in turn point to nesting or framing. It goes without saying that "speak to" is doing a lot of work here.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Another factor that I have seen to be compelling is a mystery players become intrigued by. In this case, they might not know whether that mystery connects with anything they care about... rather they come to care about the mystery itself. A new itch they want to scratch, might be another way to put this. I mention this, because "have shown" perhaps puts things unnecessarily into the past tense. It is as good if players find that their PCs care about the somethings in question.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Expanding on itches to scratch, wrongs to right can powerfully compel players, and those can occur in-situ. Especially slights or other wrongs against the player-characters. Revenge is one of the more powerful motivators. I mention this because again, I think it shows the possibility of the compelling thing being found in the situation, rather than before it (without ruling out that possibility.) And generally speaks to emotional engagement.</li> </ul>One could make a longer list. My rough intent here is to suggest that we can have a construction in which the caring about is not established in the contents of the situation, but before it, and we can have constructions in which the caring about is established in the contents of the situation. One difficulty is of course that the boundaries of "situation" are undefined, so we have a vagueness that might lead to talking at cross-purposes. Possibly, we should think of nested or framed situations and it cannot be adequately explained how a situation in isolation will be compelling*.*This obviously touches on meaning, and everything (or a great deal) of what can be said about meaning may apply here.</blockquote>

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