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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 4569280" data-attributes="member: 177">Two things - first of all, what you feel you &quot;have to&quot; flesh out really is up to you.&nbsp; I don't claim there's some absolute minimum or maximum.&nbsp; I may be happy working with less background done than you/.The other thing is a major difference between novels and RPGs - in general, for a novel, an author has a pretty solid idea of where he's going before he starts.&nbsp; Frequently, the entire plot is outlined before the prose is written.&nbsp; The background, then, can't get in the way of developing story, as that background is written to support the story the author already knows is going to happen.The same is not generally true with an RPG.&nbsp; The DM and players don't know where the story will go when they start, and if the DM specifies too much, he can wind up writing himself into a corner, where what he (or the party) wants to do next is contraindicated by the material he's already put out there.&nbsp; Thus, I gave an example of my process - for a given game, I typically choose how many there will be, as a rough estimate (Like &quot;many/few/nearly none&quot;).&nbsp; Who they are is not relevant unless the PCs are going to hear about them.&nbsp; Those they are really relevant to the current storyline are sketched out, but really, the number of Epic tier characters doesn't matter to 1st level adventurers.&nbsp; This is part of why I don't specify when I don't need to.&nbsp; If the PCs are not going to deal directly with the NPC in question, their information is going to be scant.&nbsp; If I do ned to reference such a person, I can make up the needed details on the fly, and flesh it out later.&nbsp; The players will never know the difference.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 4569280, member: 177"] Two things - first of all, what you feel you "have to" flesh out really is up to you. I don't claim there's some absolute minimum or maximum. I may be happy working with less background done than you/. The other thing is a major difference between novels and RPGs - in general, for a novel, an author has a pretty solid idea of where he's going before he starts. Frequently, the entire plot is outlined before the prose is written. The background, then, can't get in the way of developing story, as that background is written to support the story the author already knows is going to happen. The same is not generally true with an RPG. The DM and players don't know where the story will go when they start, and if the DM specifies too much, he can wind up writing himself into a corner, where what he (or the party) wants to do next is contraindicated by the material he's already put out there. Thus, I gave an example of my process - for a given game, I typically [i]choose[/i] how many there will be, as a rough estimate (Like "many/few/nearly none"). Who they are is not relevant unless the PCs are going to hear about them. Those they are really relevant to the current storyline are sketched out, but really, the number of Epic tier characters doesn't matter to 1st level adventurers. This is part of why I don't specify when I don't need to. If the PCs are not going to deal directly with the NPC in question, their information is going to be scant. If I do ned to reference such a person, I can make up the needed details on the fly, and flesh it out later. The players will never know the difference. [/QUOTE]

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