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What is *worldbuilding* for?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7322645" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>How do the players learn this? In my mind, I'm linking this to the Luke Crane comment I sblocked in the OP, and to the role of divination.</p><p></p><p>When the "world" is very confined (both in fictional terms - making relevant fictional positioning fairly easy to achieve - and in corresponding mechanical terms, eg the ranges are short enough for Locate Object and other divination effects to work) then there are clear player moves available to learn stuff like this, and therefore use it as a "tool" for their goals.</p><p></p><p>But in a much more open-ended world, how do you manage this? Personally, I see this as one of the big challenges in GMing; my own response tends to be to dial back the "worldbuilding" and to generate the content as needed - so knowledge skills, interrogation skill, divination abilities, and the like in my game tend to be devices for forcing GM narration rather than obtaining access to GM notes.</p><p></p><p>This bit is very interesting.</p><p></p><p>If I rephrase it in terms of play, rather than in in-fiction terms, then it looks like: GM narrates some stuff to players that includes fictional elements with hints of relevance to the players' current concerns with the fiction; the players (correctly, if I've got it right) infer that the GM has in mind some genuine connection beneath/behind those hints, but can't discern them (and don't make the moves, in terms of fictional positioning, that would trigger more narration).</p><p></p><p>The GM then establishes some additional fiction without telling the players ("Harry completes his investigation") and this triggers a change in the fiction accessible to the players for their purposes ("the arson that destroyed potential evidence"). This is the bit I'm especially intrigued by, because it relates back to your earlier remarks about GM force, and fairness; and also to issues of "scope" in the fiction. How did you decide to change the fictional situation in this way, with this (minor?) adverse consequence for the players?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7322645, member: 42582"] How do the players learn this? In my mind, I'm linking this to the Luke Crane comment I sblocked in the OP, and to the role of divination. When the "world" is very confined (both in fictional terms - making relevant fictional positioning fairly easy to achieve - and in corresponding mechanical terms, eg the ranges are short enough for Locate Object and other divination effects to work) then there are clear player moves available to learn stuff like this, and therefore use it as a "tool" for their goals. But in a much more open-ended world, how do you manage this? Personally, I see this as one of the big challenges in GMing; my own response tends to be to dial back the "worldbuilding" and to generate the content as needed - so knowledge skills, interrogation skill, divination abilities, and the like in my game tend to be devices for forcing GM narration rather than obtaining access to GM notes. This bit is very interesting. If I rephrase it in terms of play, rather than in in-fiction terms, then it looks like: GM narrates some stuff to players that includes fictional elements with hints of relevance to the players' current concerns with the fiction; the players (correctly, if I've got it right) infer that the GM has in mind some genuine connection beneath/behind those hints, but can't discern them (and don't make the moves, in terms of fictional positioning, that would trigger more narration). The GM then establishes some additional fiction without telling the players ("Harry completes his investigation") and this triggers a change in the fiction accessible to the players for their purposes ("the arson that destroyed potential evidence"). This is the bit I'm especially intrigued by, because it relates back to your earlier remarks about GM force, and fairness; and also to issues of "scope" in the fiction. How did you decide to change the fictional situation in this way, with this (minor?) adverse consequence for the players? [/QUOTE]
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