As OP but only speaking for myself, I was specifically talking about how precise details and deep dives are largely unnecessary, especially as it relates to fights over changes to that lore. Specifically, again in context of the OP, changes in lore don't matter and folks should probably chill about this character being race or gender swapped, etc.So four pages in, do we even have a working definition of lore? Because I think of any setting information as lore.
Okay, I think I can get down with that. Even in an established setting like Star Wars, it's not like I'm going to get all pissy if we go to Tatooine and Tour Aryon isn't the Imperial governor. (I had to Wookiepedia that information. I love Star Wars, but I'm not married to it.)As OP but only speaking for myself, I was specifically talking about how precise details and deep dives are largely unnecessary, especially as it relates to fights over changes to that lore.
For my own settings, I don't bother with lore I don't think will matter in the game. I was running a Hell of Earth campaign set in Little Rock, and one of my players kept asking me questions about the demographics; How many people, how many children, old people, men, women, etc., etc. I kept answering her questions until she looked at me and asked, "You're just making this all up, aren't you?" The only question I had answered was the number of people, 5,000, and I hadn't given a thought to demographics.More generally, as a GM I much prefer a shallower, more ephemeral lore because, frankly, I'm not trying to build an incorruptible second world fantasy
EXACTLYOkay, I think I can get down with that. Even in an established setting like Star Wars, it's not like I'm going to get all pissy if we go to Tatooine and Tour Aryon isn't the Imperial governor. (I had to Wookiepedia that information. I love Star Wars, but I'm not married to it.)
For my own settings, I don't bother with lore I don't think will matter in the game. I was running a Hell of Earth campaign set in Little Rock, and one of my players kept asking me questions about the demographics; How many people, how many children, old people, men, women, etc., etc. I kept answering her questions until she looked at me and asked, "You're just making this all up, aren't you?" The only question I had answered was the number of people, 5,000, and I hadn't given a thought to demographics.
Okay, I think I can get down with that. Even in an established setting like Star Wars, it's not like I'm going to get all pissy if we go to Tatooine and Tour Aryon isn't the Imperial governor. (I had to Wookiepedia that information. I love Star Wars, but I'm not married to it.)
For my own settings, I don't bother with lore I don't think will matter in the game. I was running a Hell of Earth campaign set in Little Rock, and one of my players kept asking me questions about the demographics; How many people, how many children, old people, men, women, etc., etc. I kept answering her questions until she looked at me and asked, "You're just making this all up, aren't you?" The only question I had answered was the number of people, 5,000, and I hadn't given a thought to demographics.
The participants may have different roles or responsibilities but they're all still players.explicitly false by the definitions in many rulebooks.
Obviously it's all made up at some point in time. What she was getting at is that I was making it up on the fly rather than having thought things out ahead of time.What’s interesting is that there is no scenario where you wouldn’t be just making it up.
Whatever authenticity might be or it's importance, I don't think that's the salient point here. Generally speaking, if you've had time to work on something it's going to be better than whatever you come up with on the fly.It’s interesting how many peopleseem to think if something is made up two weeks ago versus just now it’s somehow more authentic or whatever.
I am more on the side of flexibility with lore, and that probably works best for most groups, but I wouldn't denigrate folk who love a specific lore and engage in the play because they want to explore a specific preexisting lore. I'm thinking of something like ICE's MERP. Or Bushido or RuneQuest as I have mentioned. Perhaps an ACW group who do not want anything anachronistic in their game.So I can offer an example that actually happened in my group.
One of my friends wanted to run Star Trek Adventures, the 2d20 system from Modiphius. He’s a huge Star Trek fan. The rest of the group are much more moderate in our enjoyment of Star Trek.
The GM selected our starting time period to be around the time of the Next Generation. He explained it would be around season 2. This meant very little to the rest of us beyond a very basic grasp.
So one of the players said he’d like to play an android. The GM said he could not because there was only one android in Starfleet at that time, Data.
And that’s about as good an example I can think of where lore gets in the way of play.