Vallombrosa · Campaign Notes

What I'm Thinking
About Lately

On hooks, the floor versus the goal, and thinking about the game as little as possible.

I have zero desire to have a player at my table who treats “separating game knowledge from character knowledge” as a skill he’s deliberately cultivating. Less than zero, actually.

I realize that wasn’t worded well the first time. What I’m getting at is that I’m growing weary of two things: the “I can separate above-table from in-game” line, and the “this is a hook if you want it” offer. Not from you specifically. Just across the board, everywhere.

Let me speak to both directly.

1

You (general you, not you you) had damn well better be able to separate the two. Or you won’t be at the table very long. But it’s not something I want us striving for. It’s a floor, not a goal.

2

I appreciate the sentiment behind the hooks. When we all first met, it was genuinely nice to know that’s where everyone’s head was at. But by now I get that this table is easygoing, and that all of you are good with me poking and prodding at your backstories. So here are the three reasons I don’t particularly want to hear the hook pitches anymore.

First, mechanically. I’m pretty goddamned good at connecting threads and weaving stories together. I don’t do standalone character hooks. If I drop a hook out there, it will always connect to at least that character and one of either the main narrative or someone else’s character. Often several of each. In fact, at least once this campaign, we’ll spend multiple sessions where Player A (and maybe most or all of the table) believes we’re doing something with their backstory, only for it to become clear around the three-quarter mark that Player A has really been supporting an arc that belongs to Player B.

Second. If someone mentions or implies an idea for a hook, it will not appear in the story in any form recognizable as that same hook. I’m not so committed to subverting expectations for the sake of surprise that I’ll butcher the story just because someone guessed something I had planned. But I am trying to catch lightning in a bottle here. I want to play my part in your story in a way that’s magical and surprising to everyone, including veteran players who don’t think that can happen to them again. More on that in the philosophy section.

And finally — this is the big one. I want my players thinking about the main narrative and the game mechanics as little as fucking possible. Pulling that off is going to take a conscious choice from each of you. You can’t separate yourself from the game and story completely, and I get that. For my veterans, it’ll be especially hard to do at all, and I won’t hold that against you. But I’m going to work to build an environment where, if you give me an honest effort, I truly believe every one of you can compartmentalize well enough to reach a deep level of immersion and build something fantastic together: a one-of-a-kind story that runs the full gamut of human emotions.

And I am so ready to get started.