Why?
Of course, it depends on what kind of plot elements we're talking
about, but if, for example, the plot element is a horde of barbarians
swooping down on you and stealing all your treasures, then IMHO it
makes _more_ sense to have this triggered by time (the barbarians
start out from their camp at time T and take some time to reach you)
rather than by geography (the barbarians have decided to keep out of
sight until you reach map coordinates 124, 178 (remember that this is
a _featureless_ plain, so there is no tactical reason for them to
choose any particular spot to attack).
On the other hand, if the plot element is "finding the lost city of
Uxx", then the player can expect this to be linked to geography rather
than to time (you _don'_ find lost cities just by looking for a long
enough time, you must look in the right spot as well :-)), and will
probably get confused if, in session one, he walks west for fifteen
moves and discover the city, and then in the next game he walks _east_
for fifteen moves and finds the same city...
Magnus Olsson (mol@df.lth.se) / yacc computer club, Lund, Sweden
Work: Innovativ Vision AB, Linkoping (magnus.olsson@ivab.se)
Old adresses (may still work): magnus@thep.lu.se, thepmo@selund.bitnet
PGP key available via finger (to df.lth.se) or on request.