Deconstruction Flakes Whirlwind

My friend Boris and I used to joke that my Mage (etc.) campaigns of the 1990s were made of "deconstruction flakes." He never seemed to mind this, but Lord Quetzalcoatl knows, plenty of other players used to find my games confusing and disconcerting. I've even had people quit over it. 

I have seen players quit other good GMs' campaigns too, over equally cryptic approaches to setting creation and storytelling. This was especially hard when as a player I felt like I had an intuitive sense of where the GM was going, even if I didn't get all the references. 

Well, except for that one time I really misread the GM's cue: my wereraven proceeded to step outside of a magical circle, and was shortly edited out of the rebooted universe, once the circle closed. Period.

Sometimes you do play the feathered wise fool.

But bottom line: not everyone can follow the mystic thread; not all clues are obvious; and not everyone enjoys gaming-as-mystery. It's important to figure out ways to get players the information they need and get them into the action. That will be more fun for them than spending forever exploring a realm and trying to figure out where the adventure really is.

That is one good piece of advice from the new Book 2 - Gamemasters for Everway: Silver Anniversary Edition.

Nevertheless, here are a few of the "deconstruction flakes" swirling around in my head for the current campaign. Some of these will make it into the game. Others, maybe not.

-Brittle Sand

-Pebble

-Bubble

-The Crossbow Monks

-The House of Oars

-Arcsand

-The Gleaming Pit

-Midway

-The Bridgehouse