Worlds of Design: Baseline Assumptions of Fantasy RPGs

You can write a set of fantasy role-playing game (FRPG) rules without specifying a setting, but there’s a default or baseline setting assumed by virtually everyone when no setting is specified. Moreover, some rules (e.g. the existence of plate armor, and large horses) imply things about technology and breeding in the setting.

You can write a set of fantasy role-playing game (FRPG) rules without specifying a setting, but there’s a default setting assumed by virtually every FRPG. Moreover, some rules (e.g. the existence of plate armor, and large horses) imply things about technology and breeding in the setting.

fantasybasics.jpg

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.

The Basics of FRPG​

All FRPGs start with some assumptions built into the setting, some of them so innocuous that gamers might not even realize they're assumptions to begin with. For example the assumption that there are horses large enough to be ridden, even though for thousands of years of history, horses weren’t large enough for riding (the era of war chariots from about 1700-1000 BCE, and the era before that of infantry only).

Familiarity vs. strangeness is an important question for any worldbuilder to answer. What are gamers familiar with? That tends to be the default. J. R. R. Tolkien’s works (Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, etc.) are nearly a default setting for many, as in the dwarves and elves who are quite different from traditional stories of dwarves and elves. You could argue that the default setting is more Tolkien than it is medieval European, but he largely adopted Late Medieval European (1250-1500), so I prefer to refer to that.

The question is, do you want your ruleset, or your campaign setting, to follow the default? An early example of great deviation from the default was the wonderfully different world of Tekumel (Empire of the Petal Throne, and a few novels). A “different” FRPG might posit no monsters at all, perhaps not even elves and dwarves, just a lot of humans, yet never explicitly say so: if you leave out rules for monsters and humanoid races other than humans, you have a different-than-baseline setting, even if you didn't consciously make that decision. But be warned: too much unfamiliarity may make some players uncomfortable.

Are there baseline assumptions for science fiction? There seems to be so much variety, I wouldn’t try to pin it down.

The Baseline

What ARE the baseline assumptions? In general, they are mostly late medieval (not “Dark Ages” (500-1000) or High Medieval (1000-1250), as FRPGs tend to be magic grafted to later medieval Europe. In no particular order here is a list of categories for baseline assumptions that I’ll discuss specifically:
  • Transportation
  • Communication
  • State of Political Entities
  • Commonality of Magic
  • Commonality of Adventurers
  • Commonality of Monsters
  • Length of History and Rate of Change
  • Level of Technology
  • Warfare and the Military
  • Religion
  • Demography
  • Climate

Transportation

Wooden sailing vessels, late medieval style. In calm waters such as landlocked seas and lakes, galleys; in wild waters (such as oceans), small sailing vessels. River barges much preferable to poor roads and carts. And are there wonderful roads left by or maintained by an Empire (Rome)? See "Medieval Travel & Scale."

Communication

Proceeds at the rate of travel, by horse or by ship. In other words, very slow by modern standards. Even as late as 1815, the Battle of New Orleans was fought after the War of 1812 had ended (in 1814), but before news of the treaty had reached Louisiana from Europe.

State of Political Entities

Monarchies and lower level independent states (such as Duchies) ruled by “the man in charge” (very rarely, a woman). Nobles. States, not nations (the people rarely care which individual is actually in charge). Castles are so defensible that it’s fairly easy for subordinate nobles to defy their superiors. There are small cities (5-10,000 usually), not really large ones (over 100,000 people).

Commonality of Magic

Magicians are usually rare, secretive folk. Few people ever see any manifestation of magic. In some cases the church or the government tries to suppress magic. See "The Four Stages of Magic."

Commonality of Adventurers

Magicians, knights, powerful clerics, all are rare. 1 in 500 people? 1 in 10,000?

Commonality of Monsters

Human-centric. Monsters are usually individuals rather than large groups. Intelligent monsters are rare. (Here Tolkien’s influence, the great orc/goblin hordes, often overrides European influence.) Undead may be common. Dragons are “legendary.”

Length of History and Rate of Change

Slow pace of change of technology. Awareness of the greater days of a “universal empire” in the past (such as Rome), now gone. Technology changed much faster in late medieval times, than in Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Level of Technology

Late medieval, or possibly less. (Late medieval for the technology necessary to make full plate armor, if nothing else.) See "When Technology Changes the Game."

Warfare and the Military

Wars rarely changed borders much (Late Medieval) - the great migrations have ended. Wars certainly aren’t national wars, the common people are spectators. See "The Fundamental Patterns of War."

Religion

What we’re used to in later medieval times is a universal monotheistic church (Catholicism), though with foreign churches of different stripe (Orthodox Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist). But in games, more often the setting seems to derive from older, pantheon-based, religions.

Demography

Density of population is low. Depends on whether the local area is frontier or settled. Cities are population sinks (high mortality rates). There may be stories of a Great Plague (later-1340s and onward in Europe).

Climate

Temperate medieval European (more often, English (governed by the Gulf Stream)), with fairly cool summers so that full armor is not impossibly hot. (Imagine wearing full armor when the average summer high is 91 degrees F, as in northern Florida.) But winters are much less severe than in the northern USA. (Modern European climate is currently getting much warmer than in late medieval times.)

Your Turn: Do you see the default setting as different that what I’ve summarized?
 

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Lewis Pulsipher

Lewis Pulsipher

Dragon, White Dwarf, Fiend Folio

reelo

Hero
If you look at published content from WotC and Paizo from the last 5 or 10 years, the presumed tech and social level of D&D seems more 16th or even 17th century now, instead of medieval. Communities are presented as being affluent, literate, urban, with highly sophisticated and developed governments and infrastructure. You see it in trappings like tricorn hats, elegant carriages, masked balls, universities, tall sailed ships, and the more common appearance of firearms.

This trend seems to match a trend in fantasy fiction towards urban fantasy, and more modern-feeling settings and societies. It seems gritty, early medieval settings aren’t what today’s audiences are looking for. I suppose worlds where impoverished and illiterate peasants toil under the yoke of their feudal lords in towns where the world more than 20 miles away is shrouded in mystery are too dark, unfamiliar, or alienating.

Yeah, it's a shame. I really don't like the implied "ren fair" look of current D&D. Though OSE (Old-School Essentials, BX clone) is my system of choice, even that one has a few anachronsims I'm not happy with. Plate armor being one of them. Gold coin as the standard is another one. Thankfully, I quite enjoy homebrewing.

And I hate that. But then, I'm an old fart anyway. Get off my keep's lawn!

Nah, I'm with you there!
 

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Ed_Laprade

Adventurer
Yeah, it's a shame. I really don't like the implied "ren fair" look of current D&D. Though OSE (Old-School Essentials, BX clone) is my system of choice, even that one has a few anachronsims I'm not happy with. Plate armor being one of them. Gold coin as the standard is another one. Thankfully, I quite enjoy homebrewing.



Nah, I'm with you there!
Yeah, using the gold standard instead of silver is one I don't care for either.
 

Your Turn: Do you see the default setting as different that what I’ve summarized?
I see everything you see with one exception, the commonality of magic. Most settings say that magic is a rare thing, but once you look deeper you will find that magic is actually not rare in any sense. Magic actually being rare in a setting is something that makes a setting stand out for me.
 

Quartz

Hero
Most settings say that magic is a rare thing, but once you look deeper you will find that magic is actually not rare in any sense.

Again, just because PCs often encounter magic does not mean that magic is not rare. PCs are more likely to go where there are concentrations of magic. The local lord and his entourage are far more likely to have an item or three than the local peasantry and the PCs are far more likely to be dealing with the former than the latter.
 

Minigiant

Legend
Supporter
Actual I use "rich people aren't stupid and buy things" assumption

Transportation
I see the base assumption as Early Renaissance. There are clear roadways and old paths are maintained if safe. Early frigates are being used and engineers are now putting early cannons on ships but ship guns are fewand far between as avies are just now being developed. Nobles and royals who are friendly with the few open mages have access to transportation magic items like portals.

Communication
Proceeds at the speed of horse or ship. However things like the Battle of Louisiana wouldn't happen as major powers of that level would be able to leverage magic to inform the battlefront in quick secure channels.

State of Political Entities
Governance is based on racial or religious culture. Rulership favors men but more lawful races like humans, elves, and dwarves will not defy a queen or duchy if the rules state she is the head of any area by chance or machinations. States can be republics, theorachies, magocracies etc based on the dominant race or religion..

Commonality of Magic

Magic users and magic items are rare... for the poor. The wealthy and the powerful have access to magical allies and items. And that's if they aren't a magic user themselves. However the wilds is littered with magic. Getting access to it is dangerous.

Commonality of Adventurers

Adventurers is a specialty job. They would be as common as.. let's say... lawyers in pursuit except their high mortality rate at the job makes them as common as specialty lawyers.

Commonality of Monsters

Monsters are common. The thing is that they are separated. There are a lot of orcs but they are almost all waaaaaaay over there. And there are dangerous wilds and other monsters in between. The quests happen when something or someone cause the monsters to move.

Length of History and Rate of Change

Changes is slow. Again with travel dangerous in many areas, scholars develop technology independently. And some races like dwarves, elves, and halflings are so content with teir tech level that there is no pursuit of tech advancement.


Level of Technology

Late medieval to Early Rennaissance level for most civilized races. Babrbaric people are straight pre-Classical to high Medieval.

Warfare and the Military
Warfare is late medieval. Base D&D is weird and don't do sieges. War are rare but big. Nations don'ttake over each other much though. It's all civil wars or occupations from stateless armies.

Religion
People are religious. Religions are organized like Catholics but follow multiple deities or churches of allied dieties do not compete for flock.

Demography
Stable nations are saturated with small 100 people farming villages and mining/logging towns. Only a few big cities in stable countries. Unstable places and border kingdoms are littered with small baronies of a few thousand like folk.

Climate
Most of the world is a cool temperate. Mild summers. Bad but comfortable winters. All this is bordered by badlands of extreme temperature or precipitation. Woodland is dominant. Then unnatural grassland (chopped woods or drained marsh) then wetland then mountains then natural grassland then deserts.
 


Eyes of Nine

Everything's Fine
The presence of magic, even if rare and a god or gods intervening changes everything. Medieval Europe with actual spellcasters is not going to look like the historical time period. In fact, we wouldn't even have our Medieval period, because presumably magic was always there.

What would our world look like if humanity's early beliefs about how the world worked were true? What if magic gave us the tools to shape our lives way earlier than science did?
That feels like a separate thread that could be veeerry interesting.
 



Again, just because PCs often encounter magic does not mean that magic is not rare. PCs are more likely to go where there are concentrations of magic. The local lord and his entourage are far more likely to have an item or three than the local peasantry and the PCs are far more likely to be dealing with the former than the latter.
It has nothing to do with the PCs. It has to do with how often magic and magical things appear in the setting. If magic items are common enough that the local Lord has even a single one, magic is by no means rare.

EDIT: In fact, in a setting where magic is actually rare, the PC spellcaster(s) should be the only magic-users in all the land (and the next three kingdoms too). Any magic items the PCs have (less than one per PC) should be legendary items know throughout the world. And the PCs should routinely be sought after because of the absolutely insane amount of magical stuff they possess. IMHO anyway.
 
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