Having seen Collab without permission's review this project sounds fantastic. Looking at the page count however I feel rather daunted and put off indeed as I'm not sure how I'd keep all the different threads in my head.
Although I've done a fair bit of GMing, it's nearly all one page collaborative player lead story telling or indie 1-15 page scenarios.
In terms of both getting the most/appreciating the depth of this lovely work, how easy is it to guide through it while enjoying the offshoots?
The simple answer is that you don't need to keep all the different threads in your head at the same time.
Use the player lead approach you're used to. Give the visitor's book to the players to reference and build off, then use the referee's book to surface challenges and problems as they play. The referee's book presents factions, events, and locations to provide fuel, not firm structure. You can share events between sessions and ask players to pick what they'll focus on, while rolling randomly to see what else happens in the background.
The basic idea of most OSR or OSR-ish or sandboxy games (whichever term you prefer) is to give content you then generate from randomly or semi-randomly (or even just for straight-up cherry-picking). There's no right or wrong way to play an adventure, much less a sandbox.
And best part is, if you break it, it's fine - it was made for breaking :)
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Having seen Collab without permission's review this project sounds fantastic. Looking at the page count however I feel rather daunted and put off indeed as I'm not sure how I'd keep all the different threads in my head.
Although I've done a fair bit of GMing, it's nearly all one page collaborative player lead story telling or indie 1-15 page scenarios.
In terms of both getting the most/appreciating the depth of this lovely work, how easy is it to guide through it while enjoying the offshoots?
Hope that makes sense.
Tom
The simple answer is that you don't need to keep all the different threads in your head at the same time.
Use the player lead approach you're used to. Give the visitor's book to the players to reference and build off, then use the referee's book to surface challenges and problems as they play. The referee's book presents factions, events, and locations to provide fuel, not firm structure. You can share events between sessions and ask players to pick what they'll focus on, while rolling randomly to see what else happens in the background.
The basic idea of most OSR or OSR-ish or sandboxy games (whichever term you prefer) is to give content you then generate from randomly or semi-randomly (or even just for straight-up cherry-picking). There's no right or wrong way to play an adventure, much less a sandbox.
And best part is, if you break it, it's fine - it was made for breaking :)