Players ignorance, What do you prefer Options

[D.Generate]

Based on an exchange of posts in another topic I wanted to find out what other GM's out there think.

Do you refer players that know all the metaplot of SR like the shutdown the emergance of Ghostwalker ect ect... or do you like clueless playes as far as world events go?

Sound off like you got a pair maggots!!

HAHA just kiding abouthte maggot part.

[Kakkaraun]

Any major event...that people in the Shadowrunner community would know about, or the world at large, that occurred previous to the time in which the game is set, the players would, and should, know about. Wouldn't want someone running around in 2061 to not know about Dunk's demise or Deus's...destruction. :)

But, as for players...well, it's nice if they're ignorant, because they might metagame, and it could ruin the surprise.

[FXcalibur]

It depends on what kind of game we're playing. If we're going to have a simple, basic hit-corp-America-and-stay-alive-as-long-as-possible game, it's not necessary to have such knowledge. But if we're in a game where we go travelling alot for some reason (the military ops campaign idea in the SRC might fit), then the more the better.

Usually it's an interesting mix that I get. If the players find out some stray info on Deus, some of them would reel in horror and the others would stare blankly at them. Then they'd have to explain to the clueless ones who Deus is, and it's this sort of thing that I find is great for roleplaying and building a more solid team. :D

[John Campbell]

I don't really care, because I don't follow canon.

This has advantages and disadvantages... on the one hand, the canon nazis get all confused when things don't go like they expect, which is funny to watch. On the other hand, they sometimes get all pissy and whine, which is just annoying.

[A Clockwork Lime]

Ditto John Campbell for the most part.

I've always treated the canon metaplot as little more than myths and rumors circulating around on Shadowland. Whether or not they're true is up to me and what I feel like doing, though most of the end results are the same. Examples include the death of Dunkelzahn, the Arcology shutdown, and the tactical nuke used in Chicago. But in all three of those cases, they had nothing to do with the canonical reasons for each of them.

[Kagetenshi]

Well, as far as what runners would know (and thus what the players should know in a canon game): Dunkie's election and death are biggies. The Renraku Arcology shutdown is another. The name Deus is most certainly not something they would know IMO, and the fact that an AI is loose in the arcology is something they'd probably not know; almost certainly not, I'd say.

As for the players, as long as they can keep IC and OOC separated, I don't care either way. Well, sometimes it's nice having players be completely surprised by something.

~J

[Nerbert]

Yay for not spending a ton of money on a lot of story arcs that I'm going to errata for my own campaign or ignore completely. Besides none of my players know anything about SR.

I don't feel like a world is really mine unless I have my fingers in absolutely everything. Right now I'm in the middle of a world that focuses on the east coast, and the NYC, Philly, DC sprawl.

[Paul]

We only use the metaplot as background noise, so I don't mind. My players rarely take part in those events, but have, of course, been affected by them.

[RedmondLarry]

I'm training all my players to be GMs (they are all in their 20s). Two of them are awesome, two are better than average GMs. We started in 2053 and the first published adventures, we do all the metaplot, and we try to follow the published rules. I want them to be able to switch between conventions (official rules) and our home campaign without much confusion.

All but 1 player had no idea what was coming when they went into the Universal Brotherhood building. It was great. All players knew the outcome of the election of 2057 ahead of time, but they didn't let it affect their play. We still had fun.

[shadd4d]

I try not letting them know about the bugs. Peroid. Bug City is an important thing and I don't want something spoiled, in case I want them to visit.

Don

[Abstruse]

I like both personally. Ignorance is great for running Universal Brotherhood's adventure or locking them in the Archology, but I also like it when one player can explain something to another player in character rather than having me explain everything ("What's Lone Eagle?" "Are you a moron? It's when some Indian terrorists launched a nuke at Russia and the missile just vanished. Didn't you take history in the 5th grade?") That's actually the reason why I like canon games over non-canon ones...the players can read up on their own and I don't have to play 6th World History Teacher explaining all the background to the players. Makes everything a lot easier to me.

The Abstruse One

[shadd4d]

Which is one reason I loved the historical sum-up in SR2 (debatting) having my players read that and not letting them read the history in SR3 (it just gives away too much for those meta-plot players).

Yet another reason to hang onto my old SR2 books.

Don

[toturi]

I do not like player ignorance. I do not want to explain for half an hour that the USA was broken up into smaller countries and the mega corps virtually rule the world.

Most of the shadow talk in various sourcebooks are vague enough or contradictory enough to go either way. So I can interpret Canon metaplot anyway I want as long as I can keep it consistent in the campaign.

[D.Generate]

I did not mean completely ignorant of all things in Shadowrun I meant just from things after the date you game starts taking place. I would't want to explane about the '29 crash, what megacorps are and how they came to be. It was just a general question since everyone starts campaigns at different points I couldn't pick specific evens i Just llisted a couple things so people would understand what I was talking about. Should have been more clear I guess although a few of you understood what I was trying to get across iin my half asleep question/post.

[Snow_Fox]

I most deffinately do not have "a pair" but no one has ever accused me of being quiet.

In general the GM's in our group let people know basics of the meta-plot like it was a news report. "Shut down at Arcology" "Something freaking big came through the gate at the Watergate" etc. many of us buy the books but we know not to trust them as the GM's often break away from the canon at unusual places(In our world the arcology was only shut down for 6 weeks.)

[Kagetenshi]

Are you wearing socks? Do you have pants? Maybe gloves?

We all have pairs; some have more pairs than others.

~J

[Cray74]