World FAQs

Where are the NPCs?
There can be a slew of extra people in any Action Scene of World vs. Hero, whether included by the Hero Player or the World Player. These characters are often an integral part of the atmosphere of an Adventure Location, whether they’re the rowdy patrons of a medieval inn, the fleet-footed commuters of a major metropolis, or the unsavory crew members of a privateer’s ship. Heroes can spontaneously interact with any of them, so long as that interaction is only for narrative “flavor” and has no direct impact on the story unless they are part of a Conflict List entry.

For example, the Hero Player may have the heroes converse with the innkeeper of a tavern as the Hero Player establishes that tavern as the new Adventure Location. The conversation could help to set the scene or give atmosphere to the bar or provide some comic relief if the innkeeper is a smarmy gent with questionable social skills. That character’s appearance in the narrative is as legitimate an inclusion as bar stools or tankards of ale. On his or her turn, the World Player could utilize that character to help facilitate the current or future impact of a conflict at that location.

Similarly, if the World Player’s currently accessed conflict is, say, a giant robot programmed for mayhem and it’s attacking a Japanese metropolis, the World Player could throw in as many screaming Japanese citizens as desired, so long as none of those citizens hinder the heroes’ actions. The World Player would need a “Fleeing Japanese Populous” Conflict List entry in order to have those non-hero characters directly impact the heroes in any way.

How does "game time" elapse during play?
Just as the author of a novel fast-forwards a decade simply by writing the words “Ten years later,” the World Player and the Hero Player have the narrative power to move time along during a game of World vs. Hero however slowly or quickly they desire – and in whatever direction. This tampering with time should not, of course, be entered into lightly and without sound reason; both players must be of the same mind when it comes to their storytelling expectations or the Action Scenes disputes will be endless.
For example, in a world of swashbuckling adventure on the high seas, the Hero Player controls a trio of reformed pirates who seek the meaning behind a sea witch’s prophecy. To get to their next destination, Piranha Island, the heroes need to undertake a two-month voyage through dangerous waters on a vessel with a crew they’ve just paid handsomely. Here are three options available to the players:

The Hero Player could briefly reference the dangerous voyage during the Action Scene that establishes the heroes’ arrival upon the shores of Piranha Island. In this way, two months would have passed in a single scene, maybe even a single sentence.
The World Player could have identified that the voyage would take place on the Blood Moon Sea and made it an Adventure Location, complete with a sea-themed Conflict List. Thus, the two-month voyage would take one or more rounds to play out.
Both players could have desired a major adventure on the high seas and deemed the journey to Piranha Island worthy of an entire game. So, all eight rounds would constitute two months of virtual time, taking place on the Blood Moon Sea with different areas of this region becoming different Adventure Locations.

When a Tableau allows the World Player to increase the impact of a conflict, how exactly is that increase depicted, quantitatively or qualitatively?

Either! Increasing the intensity of a conflict’s impact is an excellent opportunity for the World Player to be spontaneously creative, to add unplanned nuances to the storytelling action, and to keep the Hero Player off-balance.
For example, in a sci-fi combat adventure, a Low Impact conflict might be a typical Martian Security Guard. If the World Player had multiple occurrences of this conflict in the Tableau, the impact of the Martian Security Guard upon the story would increase one impact level for every matching card. The most obvious way to make a security guard scene more intense would be to have more security guards appear in the scene. However, another way to express increased intensity of the original concept would be to create one single elite guard, a dangerous, zealous Martian militant. This one new conflict character could add depth to the drama of a round of play that a group of nameless goons could not. In fact, the elite Martian Security Guard might even hold such a fascination for the players that they decide they want this character to be a recurring enemy throughout this story and in future adventures!

How exactly does a Secret Location work?

A Secret Location is just like any other Adventure Location, except that its title and description are not given to the Hero Player at the beginning of the game.
When creating a Secret Location, a World Player should ask himself or herself why a location needs be a secret at all. The answer to that will determine its use in the storytelling. Is it a forgotten dungeon, a hidden room, another plane of reality, a villain's hideout? At the least, the World Player will want to maintain a surprise for the Hero Player by keeping it secret at the beginning of the game, but not necessarily during the game. More so, the revelation of the Secret Location will probably give away some plot ideas the World Player has for later, so its identity must remain obscured upfront. Let the reason for its "secret" status be the guide for its "presence" in the story, and feel free to directly or indirectly reveal its existence at any time after the game has begun.

Additionally, the World Player may have some ideas about how the heroes will get to the Secret Location, but the World Player had also better be prepared for some improvising. By the time a Secret Location becomes relevant to a story, the plot may have twisted in unforeseen ways. A World Player might have initially thought that, for example, the presence of the aliens' ship hidden in the molten core of a volcano would be easy for the heroes to learn about, but if the story never went in that direction, the World Player would have to figure something else out. Maybe the Extreme Impact of the "Alien Leader" Conflict List entry is the ordering of the ship to rise out of the lava and land to pick him up. Thus, the Secret Location has been revealed, and the heroes have the option to enter.