The Art and Science of Worldbuilding For Gameplay [+]

[Reynard]

This is where I would disagree.

As an example, we have a perfectly developed setting with 1000s of years of history, mapped to the individual and street level, that players will be familiar with....Earth.

If I'm running a spy game on modern-day Earth, and I want to do a car chase scenario in our character's current location, pulling up map data and accurate traffic patterns is both feasible and yet wildly disruptive to the actual flow of the game.

That's not a problem of having too much world building, that's a problem of utilizing it in an inappropriate way. And that's only if the group doesn't want the kind of detail in that situation. Many people would.

 

[Emberashh]

Im of the opinion that you can prep as much as you like,  if the resulting play and procedures are conducive to allowing that prep to emerge organically.

This is another GDC talk I think is relevant here:


Essentially, what matters is volition, which is the capability to make choices, regardless of how much "freedom" there is.

Which, in turn, means that having pre-written content is not actually restrictive, so long as player volition is maintained. If you've prepped an entire region down to the gravel, that is a-okay, so long as how you're running it is allowing the players to engage with it on their terms, and that the choices they make matter.

3 Highly consequential and meaningful choices to make are better than a billion meaningless ones, but you're really not limited in how many qualitative meaningful choices you can present.

You're only limited by your own imagination and writing prowess, as well of course by your skill as a GM. A game thats well designed can in fact help alleviate some of the burden there, and ideally, will make it so that the GM only really needs to worry about making that content, rather than having to also worry about how to run it all properly.

 

[Aldarc]

This is where I would disagree.

As an example, we have a perfectly developed setting with 1000s of years of history, mapped to the individual and street level, that players will be familiar with....Earth.

If I'm running a spy game on modern-day Earth, and I want to do a car chase scenario in our character's current location, pulling up map data and accurate traffic patterns is both feasible and yet wildly disruptive to the actual flow of the game.

Yeah, this is an area where having blanks in the setting helps increase playability. IME, you don't necessarily want everything detailed. Having blanks creates "wiggle-room" for player and GM creativity in play.

 

[pemerton]

I have lived in the same inner-city suburb for over 25 years. Yesterday I went for a walk and, within 1 km of my house, walked down lanes I have never been down before (though I must have ridden past them, on a main road, dozens if not hundreds of times).

Given that (i) finding such places might well be part of game play, and (ii) no one can possible author all that stuff in advance, then (iii) it seems to follow that some sorts of "leave blanks" approach is necessary.

 

[Emberashh]

To be more specific about what I think a viable solution is:

Don't leave blanks; leave Prompts.

 

[pemerton]

I think it needs to exist because I refuse to countenance a world that doesn't have coffee, chocolate, and vanilla. And because the world doesn't just have Fantasy Europe and its near neighbors in it.

A minor point of order: coffee comes from the Red Sea region, not the Americas. So while probably not part of Fantasy Europe, it might be part of fantasy near neighbours (Ethiopia or Yemen).

 

[pemerton]

If all your world is filled in, maybe some people feel that's limiting the direction of gameplay.

I am not sure how this would occur.

As a very simple example: if the architecture of every building in the world were specified in advance, then when a player declares (as their PC) "I search for a secret entrance" then in many cases the outcome would be predetermined (ie there is no secret entrance, as per the pre-authored architecture). And thus, the direction of gameplay would be limited (ie no secret entrance is going to be found and exploited in this particular moment of play).

Presumably part of the point of world building for game play is precisely to introduce such limits.

 

[Emberashh]

As a very simple example: if the architecture of every building in the world were specified in advance, then when a player declares (as their PC) "I search for a secret entrance" then in many cases the outcome would be predetermined (ie there is no secret entrance, as per the pre-authored architecture). And thus, the direction of gameplay would be limited (ie no secret entrance is going to be found and exploited in this particular moment of play).

Presumably part of the point of world building for game play is precisely to introduce such limits.

I think if you're not agreeable to changing pre-determined things in play then you're missing a very critical tool.

Its one thing if the change completely upends the entire point ("I look for the rock thatll let me cast Wish!"), but presumably the point in that example is to get into the building and up to whatever the actual goal is, which isn't merely to get into the building. Adding a secret entrance isn't a problem, in that instance.

 

[pemerton]

I think if you're not agreeable to changing pre-determined things in play then you're missing a very critical tool.

Its one thing if the change completely upends the entire point ("I look for the rock thatll let me cast Wish!"), but presumably the point in that example is to get into the building and up to whatever the actual goal is, which isn't merely to get into the building. Adding a secret entrance isn't a problem, in that instance.

I don't see how this is consistent with the OP:

In a certain style of RPG campaign play, the world is established in pretty concrete terms and the players explore, discover and change that world through their characters experiences and actions.

You seem to be positing that the GM takes suggestions about the world from players, during play, and then changes the world in ways that have nothing to do with characters' experiences and actions.

 

[Reynard]

And thus, the direction of gameplay would be limited (ie no secret entrance is going to be found and exploited in this particular moment of play).

Presumably part of the point of world building for game play is precisely to introduce such limits.

That's not a limit on gameplay, that's a set of conditions for the situation in which the characters find themselves. There's no imperative that there should be a possibility that a secret passage should be found if there isn't one specified.

I don't see how this is consistent with the OP:

You seem to be positing that the GM takes suggestions about the world from players, during play, and then changes the world in ways that have nothing to do with characters' experiences and actions.

No, I was positing that the PCs do things in the world, go places and take actions and make choices, and that changes the world because the PCs actions have consequences. I wasn't talking about players deciding things about the world.