Lanefan
Victoria Rules
True, though if you've tailored your setting around one particular group of characters it's just that much more work to re-tailor it once 4 out of those 5 starting characters no longer exist...which might well be the case before the first adventure is done.Evolution is always required. PCs die. Players move. Sometimes storylines fizzle or veer in a direction tat is best abandoned. But, you can adjust, introduce new elements, close loops in different ways etc... Regardless, this is a problem you face whether the themes and stories in your games are ones you placed in front of the players and asked them to adopt or if they are themes you crafted WITH the players.
Which one? There's at least five of them now...The more I read this thread, the odder I find it. And, the more I recommend people read chapter one of the DMG ...
To me, it's largely on the players to find ways in which to involve their characters in anything beyond the here-and-now adventure(s) being played. This means putting in the effort to learn at least enough about the setting you're in to be able to find a way to integrate your character?... especially the section called, "Involving the Characters". If you have not read chapter one of the DMG - the guide for Dungeon Masters - please do so.
I'm from a Roman-based culture? Cool! Republic or Empire version? Republic? Good, my long-term goal is to become a senator, at the very least.
Backgrounds are useful here.
And how, in this case, does it help in the least?Another way to think about this: D&D is - at the core - improvisational acting. You're sitting at the table improvising dialogue and actions for your PCs and NPCs. What are the basic rules of improv? What is the FIRST of those rules? There are a lot of ways to say these rules, but the first one is usually either, "Say YES" or "Don't DENY". What does that mean? Why is it there?
That's right, it doesn't.
In improv acting the goal is to riff off each other and generate some entertainment for a watching audience. (which is why things like Critical Role are not good guides to how to play; the first goal there is to entertain the audience, and true-to-character play suffers as a result)
In a typical RPG the goal is to play your character...a character whose aims and goals might be in direct conflict with those of another character. Saying yes to their doing what you don't want them to do seems a bit counter-productive. Add to that you've got a game world that is out to make your life miserable and put obstacles in your way.
In my admittedly limited experience in theatre I never heard of the set designers (or the director) consulting the actors before building the stage and-or sets, which seems to be what you're advocating here. Most often the stage was what it was (i.e. either a permanent install or built to fit a certain space), the sets were designed to fit the stage, and the actors had to work with what they were given.It is there so that the story can flow organically by allowing both scene partners to build upon the efforts of each other and create a cumulative story that flows and breathes. All up, without backtrack. When the DM dictates their world on players, without involving the characters in the development of it, they're ignoring their scene partners.
Which sounds fine in theory. In practice this runs hard aground as soon as one person's vision for the setting starts to conflict with another's - 'compromise and consensus' is merely another fine theory that rarely if ever works in practice, and so you just end up with either an argument or someone feeling over-ridden.Instead, SAY YES by involving them and building with them, back and forth.
Better to leave 99% of the setting stuff solely to the DM; with the other 1% being things that only relate to your own character e.g. the Roman character buys or builds a villa so let the player design said villa.