Re: [BNW] Meta-Plot vs Static world

["Nikolaj Lemche" <nikolaj@mail1.stofanet.dk>]

Steve Crow wrote:

> That may not be the correct interpretation of various folks' statements,
> but it would certainly seem to be where other people got the
> interpretation that some folks felt metaplot = bad.

There are some of us who really like metaplot, but who thinks that BNWs way
of doing it is rather bad.

Personally I like metaplots, they not only give a gameworld a lot of life
because the writers provide a sense of development, but it also gives the
writers more time and more creative input in that time so they often come up
with much more cool ideas as time goes by. A core book that reveals
everything will often restrict the writers creativity too much.
  But metaplots in RPGs need to be made well. First of all you need to cover
the basics already in the core book, so that your reader theoretically
should be able to run the game without feeling that he need to buy more
books to answers things in the core book. Supplements need to _add_ to the
gameworld, not _answer_ mysteries.

So in the core book keep the mysteries (in other words the things you
haven't really answered yourself as a writer) discrete, so that they don't
appear to be too important. Or reveal them or say to your readers that this
is something you will leave to them to find out in their own game.
  In BWN Matt writes not only this is a mystery, he also says this will be
revealed in later books.

Examples of games that have done this well is Aberrant and Heavy Gear.
Example of games that have done it badly is Trinity and now BNW.

The reason why you should keep the mysteries hidden or revealed is because
it is not the job of a RPG writer to tell a story or to mystify his reader.
It is the RPGs writers job to provide inspiration for his reader so that the
reader/GM can create _his_ story together with his players.
  Telling a GM that this is a mystery, but we wont tell you yet it like
giving a note on an icecream that it tastes really well with chocolate sauce
but we will only sell it with that sauce next year. Not very useful or
satisfying.

In the case of BNW then what we have got now is: A bunch of low power supers
lives in a fascist US in a world that might have magic. IMO it doesn't
really have anything unique inspirational stuff in it yet and what you have
now you can do with any other super RPG. So there really isn't any reason
why you should buy more BNW books.
  I suspect that the game really does have some very cool ideas that can
provide me with inspiration to create some interesting stories, but they
probably wont be revealed until Crossroads, so I wont buy any more BNW books
until that books is released, and then I will take a look and see if the
game has good enough ideas that it is worth the money or whether I should
just stay with MSHAG and Aberrant.

My conclusion is that metaplots are cool, but they need to be build on a
very solid foundation, BNW doesn't have any real foundations and the way the
metaplot is presented is bad because it reduces the games usability for many
GMs.

Nikolaj Lemche

------------------------------------------------

E-mail: nikolaj@mail1.stofanet.dk
Homepage: http://members.xoom.com/Kuranov/