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Today we have a special episode discussing his company The Gauntlet‘s upcoming TRPG The Lands Remaining.
- His latest games including The Between, Public Access and The Lands Remaining borrow the underlying system from the Brindlewood Bay roleplaying game. These games are called “Carved from Brindlewood”.
- The Lands Remaining takes the Brindlewood system to a fantasy roleplaying creating a unique opportunity for story
The Big Question
What Should be Mysterious in a TTRPG?
We asked our community that question, which is honestly difficult to answer. Here’s what I threw out there
Sure, if you’re investigating murder, then the “whodunnit” needs to be mysterious.
But what about the stranger who gave you a clue, but a moment later you aren’t sure they were actually there? The big bad guy is destroyed by a series of strange, unfamilar actions. You travel a month to get to the legendary peak of the Emerald Lords.
They are a mystery when you first hear of them. But when you get the maguffin, or solve that murder, should you then understand the other parts of the story? How much is ok to remain mysterious to the players?
Here’s some comments from the responses
I think it depends on the story you are trying to tell. If you are running a mystery, I think its okay if the players don’t find all of the clues. If it is a long campaign, it can be fun to leave things undisclosed. These are things the GM can bring back later.
Devon aka crazy Weasel
My favorite time to leave something secret though is when the session ends. My players love to theorize about things they may not have discovered, and sometimes telling them the truth would ruin the world they have imagined for themselves.
Foes can be mysterious, but I think there ought to be a mechanism for revelation (I think a mystery without at least a little revelation is either uninteresting, or confusing). Factions, broadly, should be mysterious, especially when first encountered, whether that be secret societies or BBEGs, again with revelation coming in as interaction increases. Not everything should be revealed, but I think GMs tend to obfuscate too much, and reveal too little – or reveal too slowly (this is me) – to keep the mystery interesting. Locations can also be mysterious, and I think the real trick is hinting at a feature without totally revealing it, or making it totally confusing.
The Merlitron
Wrapping It Up
I asked Jason about something specific that he’d mentioned on his podcast; “If it takes you a month to get to the next scene, the way you got there should still be mysterious.”
Check out this discussion. I’m fascinated by this idea, but let us know what you think!
We mention the Bad Spot, a premier actual play channel you can check out here.
And if you want to join our discussions, join our private email group by sending an email to sh**********@***il.com or join our Discord.
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