anyway.

OK. I think my inner "rules of composition" gremlin is having a bad reaction, or I've got an allergy to anything that I think might be burying the lead/lede. I don't want a divider, I want a "start here!" It's amazing how much more comfortable I am with the below, although I make no claim that they're substantively different from the originals:

"If you're the Explorer player in Murderous Ghosts, you'll use the tools [rules] provided as you try to escape unmurdered. Being bold, clever and lucky with how you time your busts [hurhurhur - he said bust] is especially important! The tools [rules] are ..."

"In AW, you?ll have to follow the principles, in pursuit of your agenda, and always say what you should always say, for probably at least six sessions. Those are the tools [rules] that will let you find out what these characters make of their world. [The details ...]"

An object also seems to need a particular kind of detached-yet-still-associated relationship with the purely fictional stuff. Like, what's important isn't (for the object of the game) that the Explorer character wants to escape unmurdered (though he probably does), but rather that the player wants that. And AW characters don't care about principles or agenda - they may not even care about "their world" other than in a "does it give me what I want?" way. Players (all-participants sense), on the other hand, do need to care about principles, agenda, and what becomes of the world. Where "care" = "pursue as the object of the game."

All that said, I think I'll be fine as long as I remember that the "in order/you'll have to" is the vitally important, un-ignorable part of the construct. Again, unless I'm missing something.

Gordon: I think it'd be OK for the player to want the character to become a "martyr" and fail in his goal of escaping. Why not?

Dom: My current thinking is that the object of the game is a constraint we're asked to take on in order to make this particular game work. Sure, in some game it's fine for the player to want the character to be a martyr, but in Murderous Ghosts, you're given the object "escape unmurdered." Fail to engage with that and the game might still work, but you've, uh, voided the warranty.

Of course, I'm not the author - Vincent may have considered that possibility and have it covered elsewhere in the design. I'd think he would give a different object in that case (one that's more "play to find out what happens"-ish), but I could be wrong.