Post by blackadder23 on Jan 10, 2013 18:46:29 GMT -6
Quite a few popular TV, movie, and book series have featured longstanding mysteries and questions. In recent years it has seemed that many shows and movies and books that addressed their longstanding mysteries and questions have drawn considerable ire from their fans over the "answers" they provided. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. One is that you just can't please everyone, and unhappy people tend to be more vocal (especially on the internet). The other is that (in my experience) people tend to build mysteries up in their minds more the longer they last, and at some point virtually any answer will disappoint compared to whatever the viewer or reader had created in his imagination. It becomes a question of inflated expectations, and that's usually a no-win proposition.
How is this relevant to AS&SH? In my reading, Hyperborea is a very mysterious place as written, not even considering the additional mysteries that most DM's will add to their own campaigns. It seems much more mysterious and enigmatic to me than (for example) Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms or Krynn. Even the basic physical reality of Hyperborea is unexplained and, perhaps, unexplainable. There are many mysteries about the campaign world that players not 100% devoted to hack and slay may be interested in solving. I just wanted to point out the rueful recent experiences of many authors and producers as something for GM's to consider: maybe there are secrets that man is never meant to know*, and maybe some questions are better left unanswered. If you give away too much, you could kill the mystique of your campaign.
Where do you draw the line? The safest course, perhaps, would be to never provide a definitive answer to any mystery. Players who never get an answer can never be disappointed in the answer they got. I feel this is a bit cowardly and amounts to trying for a draw rather than a win, plus it is sure to frustrate and anger some players. The opposite approach would be to come up with explanations for everything and present them to your players one way or another. I find this concept daring but probably fruitless. Even if the players find all your answers to be satisfactory - unlikely but possible - it will probably just generate demands for still more explanations that you hadn't considered. Or worse yet it won't, because your campaign world will have completely lost its mystique for the players once they learned too much about it. And quite frankly it seems highly unlikely to me that a group of adventurers is going to uncover many (to say nothing of all) the secrets about Hyperborea, so suspension of disbelief is risked at some point as well.
I tend to prefer a middle approach. I'm not going to explain everything, or anywhere close to that, but I will occasionally provide answers to some mysteries. If the players laugh at what I come up with, then so be it. With respect to the mysteries I introduce myself, either I will have some idea of the answer when I introduce them (and the players will have an opportunity to discover it) or the fact of the mystery itself will have some importance in the ongoing campaign (even though it never gets solved). To give an example of the latter from one of my standard D&D campaigns, my players once found an artifact known as the White Elephant. It was a small white elephant statue that didn't really do anything but return to the player who owned it - no matter what he did to try to get rid of it. Oh, and several different murderous types wanted to get their hands on it for some undefined reason or reasons. Their possession of the enigmatic White Elephant caused all sorts of complications and problems for the players, so it had considerable entertainment value even though though the numerous questions it raised (who made it, why was it made, why did other people want it, how in the world did it actually keep appearing on the person of the hapless player who "owned" it) were never really answered... as they were never intended to be.
With specific respect to Hyperborea as written, I will certainly invent answers to at least some of the enigmas and mysteries that Jeff has created, and the players may even learn some of those. However, I pledge there are two questions I will never answer, so help me Xathaqqua:
1) The players will never learn how or why Hyperborea was moved away from Earth.
2) The players will never learn who or what was behind the Green Death, if anyone or anything intelligent was.
I consider those two enigmas to be important parts of the overall mystique of Hyperborea and in my campaign they are secrets man is never meant to know*. (And if Jeff has an answer to either question, I don't want to hear it!)
What about other gamemasters? How do you intend to handle the questions of mystery and revelation and what, if anything, will be a secret man is never meant to know*?
(* - Please insert roll of thunder and peal of maniacal laughter here.)
How is this relevant to AS&SH? In my reading, Hyperborea is a very mysterious place as written, not even considering the additional mysteries that most DM's will add to their own campaigns. It seems much more mysterious and enigmatic to me than (for example) Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms or Krynn. Even the basic physical reality of Hyperborea is unexplained and, perhaps, unexplainable. There are many mysteries about the campaign world that players not 100% devoted to hack and slay may be interested in solving. I just wanted to point out the rueful recent experiences of many authors and producers as something for GM's to consider: maybe there are secrets that man is never meant to know*, and maybe some questions are better left unanswered. If you give away too much, you could kill the mystique of your campaign.
Where do you draw the line? The safest course, perhaps, would be to never provide a definitive answer to any mystery. Players who never get an answer can never be disappointed in the answer they got. I feel this is a bit cowardly and amounts to trying for a draw rather than a win, plus it is sure to frustrate and anger some players. The opposite approach would be to come up with explanations for everything and present them to your players one way or another. I find this concept daring but probably fruitless. Even if the players find all your answers to be satisfactory - unlikely but possible - it will probably just generate demands for still more explanations that you hadn't considered. Or worse yet it won't, because your campaign world will have completely lost its mystique for the players once they learned too much about it. And quite frankly it seems highly unlikely to me that a group of adventurers is going to uncover many (to say nothing of all) the secrets about Hyperborea, so suspension of disbelief is risked at some point as well.
I tend to prefer a middle approach. I'm not going to explain everything, or anywhere close to that, but I will occasionally provide answers to some mysteries. If the players laugh at what I come up with, then so be it. With respect to the mysteries I introduce myself, either I will have some idea of the answer when I introduce them (and the players will have an opportunity to discover it) or the fact of the mystery itself will have some importance in the ongoing campaign (even though it never gets solved). To give an example of the latter from one of my standard D&D campaigns, my players once found an artifact known as the White Elephant. It was a small white elephant statue that didn't really do anything but return to the player who owned it - no matter what he did to try to get rid of it. Oh, and several different murderous types wanted to get their hands on it for some undefined reason or reasons. Their possession of the enigmatic White Elephant caused all sorts of complications and problems for the players, so it had considerable entertainment value even though though the numerous questions it raised (who made it, why was it made, why did other people want it, how in the world did it actually keep appearing on the person of the hapless player who "owned" it) were never really answered... as they were never intended to be.
With specific respect to Hyperborea as written, I will certainly invent answers to at least some of the enigmas and mysteries that Jeff has created, and the players may even learn some of those. However, I pledge there are two questions I will never answer, so help me Xathaqqua:
1) The players will never learn how or why Hyperborea was moved away from Earth.
2) The players will never learn who or what was behind the Green Death, if anyone or anything intelligent was.
I consider those two enigmas to be important parts of the overall mystique of Hyperborea and in my campaign they are secrets man is never meant to know*. (And if Jeff has an answer to either question, I don't want to hear it!)
What about other gamemasters? How do you intend to handle the questions of mystery and revelation and what, if anything, will be a secret man is never meant to know*?
(* - Please insert roll of thunder and peal of maniacal laughter here.)
