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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7603705" data-attributes="member: 42582">I can't answer for [MENTION=6801228]Chaosmancer[/MENTION], although I get the sense that he (? I think) and I have some similar views here.The things the player characters believe, the things they say to one another, etc are a part of the gameworld as much as anything else. If a character is telling another character something about earth elemental, then that belief and conversation is part of the fiction.Now when it's speculation about esoteric arcane matters, if the belief diverges from the truth that probably doesn't create any issues for the fiction - though in some circumstances (eg the PC is an archmage) it might.But if the conversation is about the character's hometown and childhood friends, then all of those beliefs turning out to be false would be rather odd. Is being an inveterate liar, or someone who is utterly deluded about his/her childhood, part of the player's conception of the character? Chaosmancer and I are assuming that it's not.Yes, these are the same examples as the one's I was thinking of - knowledge of one's childhood; or the diabolist/monster expert who is similar to the archmage in the earlier part of this post.This is why, upthread, I referred to pressure in the game set-up for PCs to be strangers/&quot;alienated&quot; from the gamworld (like Conan in REH's stories). If the characters are at home in the gameworld, it doesn't make much sense that the players would be dependent on the GM to tell them everything they know, and that the players would have to extract all that through action declaration. That's a device for playing alienated characters.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7603705, member: 42582"] I can't answer for [MENTION=6801228]Chaosmancer[/MENTION], although I get the sense that he (? I think) and I have some similar views here. The things the player characters believe, the things they say to one another, etc are a part of the gameworld as much as anything else. If a character is telling another character something about earth elemental, then that belief and conversation is part of the fiction. Now when it's speculation about esoteric arcane matters, if the belief diverges from the truth that probably doesn't create any issues for the fiction - though in some circumstances (eg the PC is an archmage) it might. But if the conversation is about the character's hometown and childhood friends, then all of those beliefs turning out to be false would be rather odd. Is being an inveterate liar, or someone who is utterly deluded about his/her childhood, part of the player's conception of the character? Chaosmancer and I are assuming that it's not. Yes, these are the same examples as the one's I was thinking of - knowledge of one's childhood; or the diabolist/monster expert who is similar to the archmage in the earlier part of this post. This is why, upthread, I referred to pressure in the game set-up for PCs to be strangers/"alienated" from the gamworld (like Conan in REH's stories). If the characters are at home in the gameworld, it doesn't make much sense that the players would be dependent on the GM to tell them everything they know, and that the players would have to extract all that through action declaration. That's a device for playing alienated characters. [/QUOTE]

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