What makes setting lore "actually matter" to the players?

[zakael19]

I try to keep in mind (with lore), how ridulously "foggy" our societal recollection is regarding events 1000+ years ago. Particularly if you are traveling to less civilized regions (or fallen civs)... So, I have my DM EXACT events of the past in mind, vs what tidbits of this past is "common knowledge" -hint not much is . Then you have perspective history vs. "Eye in the sky" history. Eye in the sky is going to be the classic DM mistake of giving too much lore perspective from your EXACT history framework.

So, throwing perspective based lore around and making it matter has been a fun process.

I've used Abyssal language and a demon's true name to summon a demon Smith to make a badass cursed weapon... the characters would have been in terrible shape if they didn't read a previous journal that emphasized the casting of a protective circle before conferring with a demon

Stonetop tends to present “everybody knows / some might know / very few if anybody knows” levels of world details for things that recede into the deep past or esoteric topics. I find that’s a nice way to bin things, like of course everybody knows there’s demons that lurk in dark water but few know who they’re an agent of and almost nobody knows what a demon truly is.

 

[TorgoTheWhite]

Stonetop tends to present “everybody knows / some might know / very few if anybody knows” levels of world details for things that recede into the deep past or esoteric topics. I find that’s a nice way to bin things, like of course everybody knows there’s demons that lurk in dark water but few know who they’re an agent of and almost nobody knows what a demon truly is.

This is good. In our setting alot of it falls under "very few knows" category, it has been some adjustment by my players to not metaknowledge things that tennured fantasy RPers might assume is common knowledge. Our party Wiz, is just starting to get good at some investigate/arcana to make a higher level of lore "matter" in combat... mattering in combat usually involves writing some invulnerabilities and some non-traditional vulnerabilities into challenges. Also, our Warlock has used some intimidation and masquerading to sway cultists to stop ritualistically aiding a boss into having a bunch of lair actions