You don’t need to master the minutia of a setting to run an amazing game in it! But you don’t want to get flippant with continuity. What you’re looking for is the grok threshold, and this video has the tips you need to get there!
Advanced Gamemastery: Mastering a Published Setting
April 17th, 2021
6 Responses to “Advanced Gamemastery: Mastering a Published Setting”
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Hey Justin. Did you coin the term “grok threshold” yourself? If so, where does it come from?
“Grok” meaning “to deeply and truly understand” comes from Heinlein’s _Stranger in a Strange Land_.
https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/39775/roleplaying-games/random-gm-tip-the-grok-threshold-running-a-published-setting
Grok threshold isn’t new to this video.
Great stuff again. It took me a good while to learn how to run published settings and not be bound by canon. Ironically it was 4e D&D Forgotten Realms that helped me do this – the 4e FRCS pretty well trashed the established setting and really freed me up to engage with it in a way I couldn’t before. Now I’m running a great 1e/2e-era FR campaign with 5e rules
I’m always careful to establish up front my campaign is non-canon: “Hallomak Stromm has returned from the funeral of the Sage of Shadowdale” and now “The Time of Troubles didn’t happen.”
Sorry to bother, but this article is tagged ‘advancd gamemastery’, instead of ‘advanced gameastery’. Just a minor error.
Thanks, Alex! Fixed!