hawkeyefan
Legend
Except when the players ask "who was the last king?" or "what was the city like 200 years ago". Again, I appreciate that in a novel, an overabundance of world building can be a negative (though it really does depend on the book). But in RPGs this stuff is helpful to have in play. I think utility is always helpful. So providing timelines and kings lists, or short entries, is great for play at the table. I don't mind though when there is longer form material that I can dive into between sessions.
I get that you don't care about these details. But plenty of people do. And I consider them useful. Obviously what you make is going to depend on the campaign and players. Not every campaign needs historical details like that. But most seem to. I think people will debate the best way to present world info. Ease of use and brevity are always helpful, for example. And a lot of people advocate for that. But I think most folks don't question world building itself for an RPG (especially when so many people campaigns that are about exploring a world).
See that is the kind of information that, unless it’s somehow essential to the game...perhaps there’s a question of royal succession or something like that...I don’t think really needs a lot of work beforehand. For me, if a player asked a question like that, I can improv an answer that would be just as useful and meaningful as if I’d mapped out 8 generations of royal lineage beforehand. My prep time would be better spent on some other aspect of the game.