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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7732973" data-attributes="member: 42582">That's a very interesting example of a possible episode of play, thanks!I'm trying to think of an analogue from my own recent play experience - here's one, though it may not be perfect: in my MHRP game, we have a somewhat fluctuating cast of players and hence of PCs (in part because it's a "backup" campaign, for when we can't all get together for the "main" campaign).In the first session, Iceman, Invisible Woman, War Machine and Wolverine helped stop a raid on a piece of Stark tech that was on display at the Smithsonian. All that was established, at that point, was that (i) a pro-Super Hero Registration congressman had some sort of link to Titanium Man (I don't really know the canoncial backstory to this character, but in our game he was a Russian operating out of a secret base in Khazakstan), (ii) Titanium Man was connected to the raid on the Smithsonian, and (iii) Dr Doom had something to do with something that was going on, because the PCs confronted a Doombot in the back halls of the Capitol.The second session begain with Nightcrawler turning up in DC and arranging to meet Iceman and War Machine (in civvies) at a bar. (Ie we had two of the orginal players, and a third player who had to be integrated.) There were more Smithsonian-oriented shenanigans as the PCs dealt with two different groups trying to steal the Stark shuttle. One was B.A.D; the other was clan Yashida ninjas led by the Silver Samurai. It wasn't clear which group (if either) was allied with Titanium Man.In the third session, the PCs travelled to Japan to follow up on the Yashida connection. Wolverine's player had also turned up to that session, and so he needed to be integrated. As the main group of PCs was teleporting into the Yashida Corp skyscraper to steal data from their computers, I explained that Wolverine had been trying to get in touch with his (on again, off again) girlfriend Mariko Yashida, but had heard nothing; hence he was breaking into the Yashida skyscraper to see what he could learn. This created a context for joining the PCs together; it also established some fiction about Mariko.In the next session, the PCs were back in the US, and following up on some or other lead (the details are hazy, sorry). They discovered that a more-or-less person sized, more-or-less person weight "diplomatic pouch" had arrived recently at the Latverian embassy in Washington, suggesting that Doom was behind Mariko's disappearance. So they staged a break-in to the Latverian embassy, which resulted in Wolverine being captured and fitted with a power-neutralising device.Anyway, what's the point of the above? Mariko Yashida's actual location isn't known, either by me or by the players. (In the fiction it's not known by the PCs, but probably is known by Dr Doom - unless someone has kidnapped from the kidnapper!, which I guess can't be ruled out.)But there are various limits that have been established on Mariko's possible location, and part of my job as GM in helping to frame and adjudicate resolution would include managing those limits and making sure they're reflected in the fiction that is being established through play. How far can I go to enfore a cool piece of story that I've thought of but the players don't know about? (Eg can I insist that she's really hidden inside the shuttle in the Smithsonian, so that if one of the rival groups takes it and flies it into space there's a danger that Mariko is going to be asphyxiated/depressurised/badly G-forced?)I don't know. In my 4e game - a system that doesn't quite have overt "stake-setting" techniques, and so generally relies on a more informal understanding of what is at issue in play - I use my role as GM to stop play getting distracted by low-stakes stuff. So, for instance, if the players have their PCs try for a random loot search "just because" (ie they're hoping for some sort of "drop") but there's no reason (ingame, or thematic) to think that anything of interest is going to be found, I will happily say "You search and find nothing" to keep things moving. (This is easily done in 4e because it has a fairly strict ratio of treasure to level, based on the treasure parcels tables, and so the players don't actually miss out on anything - it's more about managing pacing. When there's something signficant the players are hoping their PCs will find then of course it's a different story.)I could see managing the location of the map in a somewhat similar way. If the map is established as a "high stakes" item, with some thematic momentum and logic behind it, then the players can't just look in a random sewer and hope to find it - their action declaration has to be framed in the right way to engage with that theme. The room haunted by the daughter's ghost would seem to tick that box. The challenge of your example arises if there are other thematically salient contexts that arise in play, in one of which the players then declare that they search for the map.I think my own approach would be to allow the map to be found, and then find some other way to integrate the daughter's haunting of her bedroom into the context (eg maybe it's because the map was taken from her room that she's haunting it). But, as I said, I think it's an interesting example.</blockquote>

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