In the last week of term I ran a oneshot based on Catherine Fisher's Book of the Crow series and I'm in the process of re-reading the books and taking notes to stat things up for a potential game in the second term next year. I'm putting together a website to give people a slightly better introduction to the setting than the rather slapdash spiel I gave the group for the oneshot, and I have come up against a quandry.

It's not a well-known setting, and unless people run out and buy the books (which isn't a half bad idea, since they're some of the best fantasy out there today) then what goes on the website will be the sum total of information that people know about the world around them. My big puzzle is how much information to make public, and so I throw this open to you.

Would you guys rather know all the ins and outs of the setting you're playing in, or would you prefer information that is known to only a few in character to be kept secret out of character as well? How about things to do with mechanics, such as the classes I'll be statting up?

Discuss!

Ooh, Amazon link! Thankee :D

Depends on the secret, I think. If it's a Watch secret and we're all anti-Watch PCs again, then I'd say keep it secret, but if it's to do with something people are actually likely to play as, they're probably more likely to want to play whatever-it-is if they know the important bits in advance.

Sekoi, for example.

I think we'd definitely need to know that in advance, if only so we can start planning characters :)

I have to disagree.

I think that not knowing much about the sekoi, if you're not playing one, adds an extra level of interest to the game, and allows players to try and discover things in character.

By all means let all prospective players know the + and - to the sekoi stats, but things like how to tell the genders apart, why humans never see sekoi children, and why they collect gold should be revealed in the game, if at all.

From what you've told me I think I can make a guess at the secrets characters may want to keep to themselves, and I think that kind of thing should be kept secret ooc, so as to enhance the in game experience (and avoid metagaiming).

As far as the secrets of the sekoi go, I feel it is best to just reveal those to sekoi characters, as the info everyone knows should be enogh to let a player know if they want to play one.

The general info about the world you gave at the one shot, though brief, gave a good overview of the setting, and with a fair amount of time between now and when you plan to run it there is ample time for questions.

Nah- It'd be best if everyone had pretty much the same information about the setting. It's not like it's not freely available anyway.
Only character points should remain secret, not random knowledge about how the world works.

It reminds me of those stupid warnings about not letting the PC's read the DM's guide. It would just get annoying.