Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7369265" data-attributes="member: 42582">It's not about "wanting" there to be differences. It's that, on the measures I care about, there are fundamental differences.I get that you don't care about the same things I do. Hence you don't notice, or care about, the differences that matter to me. Pointing out this thing about you isn't going to change anything about me, though!In the actual bit of gameplay I described, the game begins with the player confronted with a situation that puts his PC's belief to the test: is this feather the thing you want? what will you do, and risk, to get it?In the hypothetical bit of gameplay you have described, the game begins with the player confronted with a situation that requires him to learn stuff from the GM, and make logisitical and tactical choices to try and have the chance to actually put his PC's belief to the test.That's the difference that matters to me.Correct.But by your own account, they do not generate or shape the content of the shared fiction. When the PC's goal is to find an item, you don't start with a situation involving the question - is this the item I'm seeking - which is a fiction that has been read straight off the player-authored goal. You start with a GM-authored description of a place with libraries and oracles and sages and the like, and the players start working there way through this GM-established fiction.Nor are they exercising the same sort of agency over the content of the shared fiction, as the GM is not authoring the framing components of the shared fiction so as to speak directly to the player's evinced conception of the character.Hardby is colour.The player had already circulated a picture of the tower where his PC had been an apprentice wizard studying with his brother (pre-possession). From memory, the photograph in question is of an Indian castle. The landscape is moderately arid. In GH terms, this suggests the Abor-Alz.The wizard PC is called Jobe the Blue, and is meant to evoke Alatar of the Istari, who travelled to the East of Middle Earth. This suggests a town which is more like Zamora in Tower of the Elephant, or Hort Town in The Farthest Shore.Plus there needs to be a forest nearby for another PC to come from, and Celene not too far away for the Elf PC to come from.When yu look at the GH map and keep the above three paragraphs in mind, Hardby stands out. But as you say it's just colour - a name to be given to the place where events unfold. Conflict between PC goals, to a greater or lesser extent, is a recurrent element in my RPGing. Apart from its inherent interest (think eg LotR, where the fellowship needs to go to Mordor but Aragorn's main desire is to go to Gondor) it's an effective way to generate meaningful choices and a bit of drama at the table.</blockquote>

Verification