Happy Friday! Episode 42 of Discern Realities is here! This deluxe episode features:
-The Heart Queen’s garden party and a conversation about the gaming “corridor.”
-A conversation with Slade Stolar about Dust, Fog & Glowing Embers, his new game, currently on KS.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676237438/dust-fog-and-glowing-embers-an-rpg?ref=user_menu
-Answering the questions from the Discern Realities move.
-The Star Bears from Issue #2 of Ray Otus’s Plundergrounds
https://www.patreon.com/rayotus/posts
-And, of course, our comic strip AP featuring the adventures of Ramshackle Crow!
Enjoy!
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Dust, Fog & Glowing Embers just funded as well!
Dust, Fog & Glowing Embers just funded as well!
Can’t wait to listen!
Can’t wait to listen!
Re the setting for DF&GE, your descriptions put me in mind of Alan Moore comics like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell, and videogames from failbetter: Fallen London and Sunless Sea.
Re the setting for DF&GE, your descriptions put me in mind of Alan Moore comics like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell, and videogames from failbetter: Fallen London and Sunless Sea.
The discussion of Discern Realities questions was excellent. One thing you skirted around (maybe intentionally) is that some old school GMs (new to DW or who try to play DW like D&D) just might not like that a player is asking a fictional question for which they aren’t positioning themselves fictionally to know. IOW, if I am looking for traps and ask “who’s in control here,” some GMs might say “that’s not a question relevant to what you are doing; ask a different one.” But since DW is a game that allows players to create elements of fiction or bring elements into being with Q&A, these kinds of sideways questions are appropriate/allowed and it’s up the the GM to take them at face value and make them work somehow — which was the thrust of your discussion, or rather ‘how’ you make them work somehow. 🙂
Also, I am extremely grateful and flattered for the segment on Plundergrounds. Thank you for helping me get attention for the zine and thanks for the kind words about its quality/my work.
The discussion of Discern Realities questions was excellent. One thing you skirted around (maybe intentionally) is that some old school GMs (new to DW or who try to play DW like D&D) just might not like that a player is asking a fictional question for which they aren’t positioning themselves fictionally to know. IOW, if I am looking for traps and ask “who’s in control here,” some GMs might say “that’s not a question relevant to what you are doing; ask a different one.” But since DW is a game that allows players to create elements of fiction or bring elements into being with Q&A, these kinds of sideways questions are appropriate/allowed and it’s up the the GM to take them at face value and make them work somehow — which was the thrust of your discussion, or rather ‘how’ you make them work somehow. 🙂
Also, I am extremely grateful and flattered for the segment on Plundergrounds. Thank you for helping me get attention for the zine and thanks for the kind words about its quality/my work.
-I backed Dust, Fog & Glowing Embers. The setting is oozing with my kind of special sauce.
-Corridor is now an official term in my mind. Its pretty much how I always GM frankly. I do leave plenty of room to the characters so they can decide what they want to do but I always come to a game with a general storyline I think would be interesting to all. Please don’t call me a sinner of PBTA principles!!!
-DR is tricky. Thanks for pointing at some angles of approach and possible solutions. I like to ask players to paint the world with me so I may rely on that next time Im out of ammo. Good suggestion.
-Ramshackle!!! Talk about a MEGA cliffhanger. Is what’s coming next a good or bad thing? Who knows! (probably just Jason Cordova).
As always great show! Thank you guys!
-I backed Dust, Fog & Glowing Embers. The setting is oozing with my kind of special sauce.
-Corridor is now an official term in my mind. Its pretty much how I always GM frankly. I do leave plenty of room to the characters so they can decide what they want to do but I always come to a game with a general storyline I think would be interesting to all. Please don’t call me a sinner of PBTA principles!!!
-DR is tricky. Thanks for pointing at some angles of approach and possible solutions. I like to ask players to paint the world with me so I may rely on that next time Im out of ammo. Good suggestion.
-Ramshackle!!! Talk about a MEGA cliffhanger. Is what’s coming next a good or bad thing? Who knows! (probably just Jason Cordova).
As always great show! Thank you guys!
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how a player might know something. But you can give them an “in fiction” clue and an “out of character” explination. This leaves it up to them to figure out how their character might make the connection later. It’s better then saying “you have no way to know that”.
If the players ask who is really in control at a bookshelf or desk you give them a clue “you see deep scratches in the floorboards under the chair.” Or ” there is an encoded note hidden in the pages of one of the books.” Out of character you can give a name and explain that the person of interest is very overweight or someone who regularly visits the library. Later when they meet the king’s rotund advisor or the young scholar their character can make the conclusion
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how a player might know something. But you can give them an “in fiction” clue and an “out of character” explination. This leaves it up to them to figure out how their character might make the connection later. It’s better then saying “you have no way to know that”.
If the players ask who is really in control at a bookshelf or desk you give them a clue “you see deep scratches in the floorboards under the chair.” Or ” there is an encoded note hidden in the pages of one of the books.” Out of character you can give a name and explain that the person of interest is very overweight or someone who regularly visits the library. Later when they meet the king’s rotund advisor or the young scholar their character can make the conclusion
Totally true, Daniel Fowler. And the great thing is that all of those answers move the story forward instead of throwing up uninteresting roadblocks.
Totally true, Daniel Fowler. And the great thing is that all of those answers move the story forward instead of throwing up uninteresting roadblocks.