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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mad_Jack" data-source="post: 6921185" data-attributes="member: 6750306">This is why Session Zero is so important... If you want to run a certain type of campaign, or to have your players be willing to invest in your world, you all as a group have to get together and agree to do so. And then be willing to police yourselves when you find yourselves wandering too far from where you want to be.Working out the parameters for just how much silliness is allowed in a serious campaign, or how "grimdark" the world should be or just what sort of "mature" issues are acceptable in the game is an important part of having a successful campaign. (There may actually arise a situation in a serious campaign where the party bard can get away with throwing a pie in the king's face, but a player shouldn't knowingly build a character who throws pies in every fight when they've already agreed to a serious campaign. Conversely, a group of beer-and-pretzels knights-in-shining armor expecting to slay dragons and rescue maidens while tossing out witty dialogue shouldn't suddenly find themselves faced with dealing with questions of the moral and social consequences of the hundreds of starving goblin children they've left behind in their wake.)At the most basic core of the issue, players need to want to invest in the world around them, and be willing to do so. And that's something that needs to be established before the game begins. There needs to be an agreement amongst the group to not just passively accept but actively pursue the tone and engage the setting of the campaign.On a more particular note, having the evidence and repercussions of the party's actions be apparent and long-lasting is one way to keep the party invested in the setting. Recurring npcs who interact with the characters even when the interaction isn't important to the story and remember and act according to the previous interactions they've had with the characters are key.For example, not only will the same members of the town guard usually be guarding the gate whenever the party passes through and share their previous experiences with the party (being intimidated, bribed chatted up, etc.) with others, but even when off-duty they may recognize and interact with the party, greeting them in the marketplace, wanting to drink with them at the tavern, or perhaps even asking them to get involved in some aspect of their lives. The party may return to the tavern they stopped at several character levels ago to find that the tavern-keeper refuses to allow them into his establishment due to the bar fight they were involved in back then. PCs walking through the marketplace may encounter people who have witnessed their previous actions or heard about them from others, may have their feet stepped on by accident, or an unruly child may throw a stone at them. The next time they return to the market, the person who stepped on their foot or the child who threw the stone will most likely be there again, and the manner in which the party interacted with them the first time will inform their behavior in the present situation.Physically, if the party did something that affected the world around them. the consequences of their actions should remain for an appropriate amount of time. Broken windows and kicked-in doors remain boarded over until repaired. If the party mage dropped a fireball defending a village, there should be a patch of scorched earth present until the grass grows back - if it ever does, a tree cut down to use as a makeshift bridge to ford a stream will be used by others in the area, and if the party manages to flood an area while damming up a river the ecological consequences will remain long after the water dries up...</blockquote>

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