Some more "narrator advice"?

From: Jane Williams <janewilliams20_at_...>
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 19:56:39 -0000

> In this case, sorted. He seems to be equally present in all
> three worlds. The players have a fair idea why (we helped
> invent it).

It occurs to me, probably because of the "how to free-form" discussion, that this is an area where this might potentially be a source of useful Narrator Advice?

How can you deal with the situation where you as Narrator have made an error in canon Gloranthan fact, or in rules-based How Glorantha Works, and a player has noticed and been confused by it? Since that's what happened above - GM and at least one player used to RQ-Glorantha, another used to HQ-Glorantha.

Generic possible answers, some of which may be inapplicable to any given case:

  1. Say "This is the way it works in *my* Glorantha". And make a note of it, so that from now on, it does. Remember that published scenarios and background will not know about your modification, and beware of PCs whose abilities are specifically designed for the original scenario. For instance, if you abandon the Three-World Model, expect players who have agonised about concentration to be upset.
  2. Say "That's what they believe in *this* clan". Localise it. In the rest of the world, things continue as normal. Here is special. We don't need to know why, unless they visit this spot again, and perhaps not even then.
  3. Say "aha! Strange, isn't it?" And look Knowing. And hope you can come up with an explanation fast, because the PCs as well as the players will be devoting a lot of effort to finding out what's going on.
  4. Say "sorry, I boobed. Can you guys come up with an explanation?" They will! They'll come up with several. Choose one, or pick bits. And DON'T tell the players which you've picked :)

Over to the list to improve on/add to that lot...

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