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Licensed Role-Playing Games: Threat Or Menace?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lord_Blacksteel" data-source="post: 7720590" data-attributes="member: 53082"><p>It's not difficult to have a conversation with your players before a campaign begins and hit the high points of what you are and are not using from the vast amount of setting lore. Most GM's I know do that. Some even have a campaign intro handout that covers something like this. I've never run into a scenarios such as you describe, where a player makes major in-character decisions based on assumptions that were never discussed within the game. Additionally it sounds like player knowledge driving character actions that make no sense for the character. </p><p></p><p>As a DM if I want my players to know about political tensions beforehand, because it's relevant to the game in some way, then I'm going to tell them - I'm not going to assume or make them guess. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes! Exactly! And using that common knowledge does not require you to use every single piece of canon out there!</p><p>Star Wars: "Only the movies are canon" has been a common campaign rule for many years for many people. You draw the line wherever you think best serves your campaign.</p><p></p><p>Forgotten Realms: "Only the 1st edition boxed set is canon and we're playing in that time, prior to the time of troubles". Look at that - using an established universe without expecting everyone to know every single piece of lore about it. This is pretty common stuff.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>If you don't know anything about the Traveller setting then I'm not sure why you would compare it to 13th Age and its what, 4 books? Traveller has been in print (roughly continuously) since 1977. The main setting is the Third Imperium which is made up of over 11,000 worlds all of which have been mapped and described in game terms, as have most worlds in neighboring sectors. It's a ridiculously detailed setting with thousands of years of history, politics, wars, technological changes. It was created by wargamers, so it uses hex maps to show all of this. An interactive example:</p><p></p><p><a href="https://travellermap.com/" target="_blank">https://travellermap.com/</a></p><p></p><p>Despite all of this canon information a regular topic of discussion is "what parts of this do I use for my game" because you literally cannot use all of it because it doesn't always agree! There are conflicting dates, important personalities described as being in multiple locations at the same time, drastic re-interpretations of how the technology works in-universe between different editions of the game, and sometimes stuff people just don't like. There was a shake-up in the official timeline at a certain point as the emperor was assassinated and a civil war started up. A lot of people prefer the more steady-state Imperium so the parallel GURPS Traveller universe carried on with no assassination and no rebellion, which meant we had two official timelines in print at the same time that followed very different paths. There have been 11 different editions of rules for the Traveller RPG, sometimes with 2 or 3 versions in print at the same time. Conflicts happen. The vast majority of them will have no impact on your game but if you want to set some common expectations all it takes is a conversation. </p><p></p><p>You can use a setting without using everything tied to that setting. A game setting is not some holy writ stored behind glass - it's intended to serve your campaign, not the other way around. You shouldn't be afraid to mark it up, bend it, or break it if it makes for a better game. I'm running a Star Wars game where the main point of distinction is that at the end of Empire, when Vader says to Luke "Join Me", Luke says "OK". Everything before that point is probably fine to assume as "canon". After that point, not so much! It's still a "Star Wars" game. My players were pretty excited when they realized this as it's still totally familiar yet it's wide open too.</p><p></p><p>You only really ever get into trouble if you have players that treat the thing as a religious text. That seems to be a lot more rare in real life than it is on the internet. I've never had a player say "but you can't do that or that can't be true because of X". Maybe I've been lucky, maybe they get that this is a game, I don't know, but you can have a ton of fun with licensed or established settings if you aren't afraid to make them your own. That's kind of the point of playing in them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lord_Blacksteel, post: 7720590, member: 53082"] It's not difficult to have a conversation with your players before a campaign begins and hit the high points of what you are and are not using from the vast amount of setting lore. Most GM's I know do that. Some even have a campaign intro handout that covers something like this. I've never run into a scenarios such as you describe, where a player makes major in-character decisions based on assumptions that were never discussed within the game. Additionally it sounds like player knowledge driving character actions that make no sense for the character. As a DM if I want my players to know about political tensions beforehand, because it's relevant to the game in some way, then I'm going to tell them - I'm not going to assume or make them guess. Yes! Exactly! And using that common knowledge does not require you to use every single piece of canon out there! Star Wars: "Only the movies are canon" has been a common campaign rule for many years for many people. You draw the line wherever you think best serves your campaign. Forgotten Realms: "Only the 1st edition boxed set is canon and we're playing in that time, prior to the time of troubles". Look at that - using an established universe without expecting everyone to know every single piece of lore about it. This is pretty common stuff. If you don't know anything about the Traveller setting then I'm not sure why you would compare it to 13th Age and its what, 4 books? Traveller has been in print (roughly continuously) since 1977. The main setting is the Third Imperium which is made up of over 11,000 worlds all of which have been mapped and described in game terms, as have most worlds in neighboring sectors. It's a ridiculously detailed setting with thousands of years of history, politics, wars, technological changes. It was created by wargamers, so it uses hex maps to show all of this. An interactive example: [url]https://travellermap.com/[/url] Despite all of this canon information a regular topic of discussion is "what parts of this do I use for my game" because you literally cannot use all of it because it doesn't always agree! There are conflicting dates, important personalities described as being in multiple locations at the same time, drastic re-interpretations of how the technology works in-universe between different editions of the game, and sometimes stuff people just don't like. There was a shake-up in the official timeline at a certain point as the emperor was assassinated and a civil war started up. A lot of people prefer the more steady-state Imperium so the parallel GURPS Traveller universe carried on with no assassination and no rebellion, which meant we had two official timelines in print at the same time that followed very different paths. There have been 11 different editions of rules for the Traveller RPG, sometimes with 2 or 3 versions in print at the same time. Conflicts happen. The vast majority of them will have no impact on your game but if you want to set some common expectations all it takes is a conversation. You can use a setting without using everything tied to that setting. A game setting is not some holy writ stored behind glass - it's intended to serve your campaign, not the other way around. You shouldn't be afraid to mark it up, bend it, or break it if it makes for a better game. I'm running a Star Wars game where the main point of distinction is that at the end of Empire, when Vader says to Luke "Join Me", Luke says "OK". Everything before that point is probably fine to assume as "canon". After that point, not so much! It's still a "Star Wars" game. My players were pretty excited when they realized this as it's still totally familiar yet it's wide open too. You only really ever get into trouble if you have players that treat the thing as a religious text. That seems to be a lot more rare in real life than it is on the internet. I've never had a player say "but you can't do that or that can't be true because of X". Maybe I've been lucky, maybe they get that this is a game, I don't know, but you can have a ton of fun with licensed or established settings if you aren't afraid to make them your own. That's kind of the point of playing in them. [/QUOTE]
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