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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7372255" data-attributes="member: 82106">I'm not CONVINCED BTW that Story Now worlds 'lack depth' that is present in other games. I think, in practical terms, there's not a big divide there, but the subtopic is "What is the ideal dividing line between established elements and an open 'blank slate' world?" (maybe you can formulate the question more precisely or in a better way, feel free).I think genre, and tone, do a LOT of work here. If we're playing a game of Noire detective stories then there's likely to be a Moll, a Damsel in Distress, a Hardbitten but Romantic PI, some bad guys, a fairly direct-seeming surface plot linking them together, and usually a nasty plot-twist somewhere along the way. There are likely to be subthemes of romanticism, betrayal, 'life is cheap', a sort of cynical world where people do things for selfish reasons, etc. So, a GM running this game would have access for scene framing to an urban landscape, characters such as cops, detectives, thugs, probably various women who play the parts of romantic interest and/or victim (and/or betrayer) etc. They will appear in the various scenes as needed, probably starting with the classic "PI in his office having a drink while contemplating his eviction notice when a damsel walks in" or something along those lines. The exact details would depend on who the characters are, and how they're described. The choices would be fairly limited in this genre though, as its a pretty niche one. I wouldn't think there would be a HUGE benefit to inventing endless details about 'the city'. It would be mostly urban backdrop. There might be a 'bar', an 'office', some dark alley, a warehouse, a few street scenes, etc. They can generally be described without needing to refer to the exact layouts of the neighborhood, roads, etc. Now and then it might be useful to know some physical details of a location in order to adjudicate action (fictional positioning) but mostly that's going to exist so as to serve the dramatic needs of the story (IE if the main character wants to slip out the back way then the bar has a back door and a check will resolve whether or not he makes it to the back alley without being intercepted). Obviously this sort of game WILL have some kind of central plot points that engage with the 'detective fiction' motif. There will be a 'murder' or 'robbery' or something that needs to be solved. The need to resolve this plot element will help to drive the scene framing. I would say that in this kind of game the GM would be very likely to establish the parameters of this element at the start in his mind, so that any clues and developments are logically connected to it. This is a genre constraint essentially, film noire plots are generally logically plausible and fairly coherent, and resolving the 'mystery' is, if not an actual player goal, at least part of the convention they are participating in and a structure-producing device. So, as a GM I would invent the main participants in the 'crime', its motivation, how and where it was executed, etc. I might not nail all these things down in ironclad details though. For example you could invent witnesses, alter or invent some of the details where it fits into the plot, etc. I think you'd also likely have plot twists and such in mind from the start, but these things could well be invented or altered on the fly if the narrative moves in a different direction than envisaged.So, for this example, there's likely SOME 'world building', characters are invented, locations defined, and some plot elements mapped out, ahead of time. I think this is probably the sort of case that is most amenable to this kind of prearranged elements. Most other genre can be a bit looser.</blockquote>

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