What is the point of GM's notes?

[Imaro]

I’m familiar with Blades in the Dark. And although I would say that the focus is on the characters, there is still plenty involved with establishing a living world.

This is why I don’t find the “living world” as an approach to be all that enlightening. It would appear to include all manner of games that otherwise have some significant differences.

It doesn’t seem to do anything more than the term sandbox, which is something that all kinds f games can be.

So in BitD do you create fiction, progress timeliness and so on that are unknown and/or not influenced by the players? I haven't played in a while but I don't remember doing anything for it away from the table.

My thoughts are that you provide a curated world but not a living one by the definition I gave.

 

[Lanefan]

I explained it in another post, but the signal-to-noise ratio in the thread isn't the best. "You can't step into the same river twice." If the PCs go back to Embernook, Embernook is (in principle) not as they left it. Clearly I wasn't at my clearest, sorry.

I try to keep some semblance of stability in the setting, even though there's also ongoing change. Embernook would still be there as a town, for example, after a year away; and the PCs' favourite tavern would welcome them once more, but there might be a new temple going up in the main square and some tension could have escalated between the local Hobbits and the local Humans...that sort of thing.

 

[Maxperson]

I assure you, I knew what I had done, there.

Oh, yeah. I totally saw through what you did and was just jumping on board.

 

[Campbell]

So in BitD do you create fiction, progress timeliness and so on that are unknown and/or not influenced by the players? I haven't played in a while but I don't remember doing anything for it away from the table.

My thoughts are that you provide a curated world but not a living one by the definition I gave.

Each faction has these progress clocks. During downtime the GM is supposed to roll to advance the ones they are interested in. You are also supposed to come up with new ticking clocks based on what's going on in the fiction.

 

[Imaro]

Each faction has these progress clocks. During downtime the GM is supposed to roll to advance the ones they are interested in. You are also supposed to come up with new ticking clocks based on what's going on in the fiction.

But these results are all known by the players... right?

 

[hawkeyefan]

But these results are all known by the players... right?

@Campbell has it right about clocks.

Are they all player facing? I’m not 100% on if it’s specifically stated to be such in the book, but in my experience most if not all are.

 

[Imaro]

@Campbell has it right about clocks.

Are they all player facing? I’m not 100% on if it’s specifically stated to be such in the book, but in my experience most if not all are.

So these are things that influence and are influenced by the players. Basically everything the GM creates is for PC or from PC stimuli.

 

[Campbell]

I think a lot of this commentary is being remarkably uncharitable when it comes to the depth of the fiction experienced in Story Now play. It basically paints Story Now GMs as remarkably lazy and undisciplined. We're not space aliens. We're just directing our energy to a different place. Assuming an equal amount of effort there is going to be more depth / detail where you spend your energy.

In any game some elements of the setting are going to more tangible based on where effort gets expended. Some will be less so. That's why it is so important to be mindful of where we spend our energy. Platonic sandbox play tends to feel more tangible to me when looking at things that are further away from the PCs' present situation because the GM is spending a lot more time and mental energy on those things. Platonic Story Now play tends to have a lot more detail and depth devoted to things that are related to the current situation and especially the things that are important to the Player Characters'. Again assuming equal effort here which I think is fair.

I'm not completely crazy about comparisons to novels, but a great example to me is the Lord of the Rings trilogy compared to the Witcher novels. Tolkien expends a great deal of effort on world building, but not much on developing his characters as fleshed out people. Sapkowski, like Howard before him, is far more interested in developing individual characters. Dandelion, Yennifer, and Geralt feel far more familiar to the reader than Aragorn. Gandalf, and Frodo. You know what they've been through, who they are as people. The relationships they have to various side characters. The overall setting and history while still addressed in the novels does not have nearly the depth of Middle Earth.

It's all about how we focus our energy.

 

[Campbell]

The text of Blades is mostly silent about what should or should not be shared. It does address "known faction projects" which does indicate that there might be unknown faction projects. I personally share some clocks, but not others. In the games I have seen John Harper run online it seems he has some hidden clocks and others he is more transparent about.

 

[darkbard]

In the games I have seen John Harper run online it seems he has some hidden clocks and others he is more transparent about.

I was just about to point this out as well, the mix of "open" vs. "hidden" clocks in Harper's home games/playtests.