Of course, players might also be conditioned to explore every Ruin and mysterious mountain. I remember in one of my sessions, placing a ghost pirate ship just at the horizon, to foreshadow a later encounter. The players had no boat, they didn’t know what was in the ship, but upon my soul if they didn’t steal a çanoe and paddle out to sea. I had to invent a whole bunch of monsters and encounters on the fly
Something might be said here about the negative effect of video games on pen and paper RPG’s. In a video game, the mere Presence of Something Mysterious is enough reason to explore, because you’re already immersed in the world, you already know the rules of the game: explore and get rewarded. I don’t know if the promise of a reward is the driving factor in playing a TTRPG
Both good thoughts. And yes, player buy-in is a big deal. But I always want to think about why the characters are there, what are they getting out of it, and if there's a compelling reason in world to actually be there.
Of course, players might also be conditioned to explore every Ruin and mysterious mountain. I remember in one of my sessions, placing a ghost pirate ship just at the horizon, to foreshadow a later encounter. The players had no boat, they didn’t know what was in the ship, but upon my soul if they didn’t steal a çanoe and paddle out to sea. I had to invent a whole bunch of monsters and encounters on the fly
Something might be said here about the negative effect of video games on pen and paper RPG’s. In a video game, the mere Presence of Something Mysterious is enough reason to explore, because you’re already immersed in the world, you already know the rules of the game: explore and get rewarded. I don’t know if the promise of a reward is the driving factor in playing a TTRPG
Both good thoughts. And yes, player buy-in is a big deal. But I always want to think about why the characters are there, what are they getting out of it, and if there's a compelling reason in world to actually be there.