catsclaw227
First Post
At my table, the game exists so that 6 guys can sit around a table together, have fun and laughs and do some roleplaying. The game exists for the players, the campaign world exists for the PCs.
How that plays out in-game will vary from adventure to adventure. I ask for wishlists. Not because I think everyone should get exactly what they want, but because it helps me understand what the player wants out of the PC he/she wants to play. I use the lists to build stories that match the kind of PC they want to develop. At the same time, the players don't purposefully to willy-nilly off in a direction that I haven't prepared or planned out because they want me to tell a story that match the kind of PC they want to develop. These thigns aren't mutually exclusive and they are part of the assumed gaming contract we make when the campaign starts.
I build what the players want, the players go in places that I am prepared for. NONE of this has to do with the PCs nor the campaign setting. These things are metagame topics that, while threaded in with the in-game situations and circumstances, don't reflect the PC wants or actions, nor does it reflect the actual make-up of my campaign world.
Just because I am not prepared for the PCs to go far to the west doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. But the players will not try to find out what is in the far west because the game is more enjoyable by all if they play in a region where the DM is prepared to tell stories.
As others have stated, the PCs don't provide wishlists, the players do. The PCs don't exist for the gameworld, because, well the whole of the gameworld isn't detailed out yet. The world shapes itself by the actions of the PCs. (I don't mean the physical landscape.... obviously I mean the adventures, plots, stories, interesting NPCs, magic items, etc....)
I hope some of that rambling mess made sense....
How that plays out in-game will vary from adventure to adventure. I ask for wishlists. Not because I think everyone should get exactly what they want, but because it helps me understand what the player wants out of the PC he/she wants to play. I use the lists to build stories that match the kind of PC they want to develop. At the same time, the players don't purposefully to willy-nilly off in a direction that I haven't prepared or planned out because they want me to tell a story that match the kind of PC they want to develop. These thigns aren't mutually exclusive and they are part of the assumed gaming contract we make when the campaign starts.
I build what the players want, the players go in places that I am prepared for. NONE of this has to do with the PCs nor the campaign setting. These things are metagame topics that, while threaded in with the in-game situations and circumstances, don't reflect the PC wants or actions, nor does it reflect the actual make-up of my campaign world.
Just because I am not prepared for the PCs to go far to the west doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. But the players will not try to find out what is in the far west because the game is more enjoyable by all if they play in a region where the DM is prepared to tell stories.
As others have stated, the PCs don't provide wishlists, the players do. The PCs don't exist for the gameworld, because, well the whole of the gameworld isn't detailed out yet. The world shapes itself by the actions of the PCs. (I don't mean the physical landscape.... obviously I mean the adventures, plots, stories, interesting NPCs, magic items, etc....)
I hope some of that rambling mess made sense....