D&D General "In My General Experience Playing D&D, DMs Care More About Setting Lore Than Players Do" (a poll)

[Guest 7034872]

I think that's pretty much a given.

GMs are in a position where players might ask them questions about what exists and doesn't in the world around their characters, and how some things work specifically so they can work that into their next plans, and GMs typically want to be ready to give answers to these things.
For players, it's that anything you need to know about the world will either be revealed to you when it becomes relevant, or you just ask the GM if you need information on something in a specific situation. As players, you can let the setting come to you when it's relevant. You don't need to put any thought into it beforehand.

Some players can be really curious about a setting, but that's a personal preference and curiosity. GMs have to be informed about the setting of their campaign as a necessity of running the campaign.

I think that's exactly it.

 

[Stormonu]

800%+ the DM cares more about the lore than players.

Only ever had one player in 40+ years who knew anything about the campaign world before I used it (FR - he read the Driz’zt books). Otherwise, players hardly even remember the names of NPCs, much less locations, countries and everything else.

 

[Reynard]

In my experience, players have always cared more about setting lore. But then, even as GM I don't particularly care about setting lore*, so my view is likely skewed.

*I care about setting tone, atmosphere and themes. But minutia doesn't particularly interest me.

 

[el-remmen]

Is the question that they care more about the LORE than PLAYERS, or that they take lore more seriously (i.e. care) than players do?

@el-remmen

The latter. Sorry if that was unclear. . . The question is not about whether DMs care about players.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

This is unanswerable because it varies so much based on the setting and players.

Even the same players may care vastly more or less about the setting lore. Like, with my players, most of them aren't sticklers for say, Forgotten Realms lore (when we played that), but when we ran Star Wars, at least one of them cared about the lore more than I, the DM did - and I cared about the lore a lot, so that's saying something! Also RIFTS for some reason caused one of the players to be obsessive about the lore and reveal he knew things I definitely did not! Oh god and Marvel is even wilder.

In general sense the DM cares more solely because they have to "keep the lore straight", i.e. remember the lore, where the players don't, so I guess there's that.

 

[TwoSix]

I frankly find it baffling that there are apparently so many players who literally just could not give a flying coitus about anything in the world other than the literal immediate situation in front of their PC and (presumably) the expected paycheck at the end.

In my experience, generally players care, the DM simply cares more. And I think that's largely because for most D&D style games, the players are passive consumers of lore, while the DMs are the active generators.

The only games I've experienced where the players and DMs are all invested in the lore are licensed or IP specific games where a certainly familiarity with the lore is almost a necessity just to be able to make a character.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think that's pretty much a given.

GMs are in a position where players might ask them questions about what exists and doesn't in the world around their characters, and how some things work specifically so they can work that into their next plans, and GMs typically want to be ready to give answers to these things.
For players, it's that anything you need to know about the world will either be revealed to you when it becomes relevant, or you just ask the GM if you need information on something in a specific situation. As players, you can let the setting come to you when it's relevant. You don't need to put any thought into it beforehand.

Some players can be really curious about a setting, but that's a personal preference and curiosity. GMs have to be informed about the setting of their campaign as a necessity of running the campaign.

This is a good way to put it.

What I have noticed is, when a player does have a bit of lore they care about, they often REALLY care about that little shred of lore, too. They will rely on it and repeat it.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

In my experience, generally players care, the DM simply cares more. And I think that's largely because for most D&D style games, the players are passive consumers of lore, while the DMs are the active generators.

The only games I've experienced where the players and DMs are all invested in the lore are licensed or IP specific games where a certainly familiarity with the lore is almost a necessity just to be able to make a character.

Perhaps that is the difference then. I prefer games where players are given at least a minor active role in enriching the story and world (and, even moreso, I prefer a game where that role is not minor, but actually quite significant.)

 

[el-remmen]

but when we ran Star Wars, at least one of them cared about the lore more than I, the DM did - and I cared about the lore a lot, so that's saying something! Also RIFTS for some reason caused one of the players to be obsessive about the lore and reveal he knew things I definitely did not! Oh god and Marvel is even wilder.

But the question is about D&D not Star Wars, RIFTS, or Marvel games.

 

[TwoSix]

Perhaps that is the difference then. I prefer games where players are given at least a minor active role in enriching the story and world (and, even moreso, I prefer a game where that role is not minor, but actually quite significant.)

Yea, that's definitely my preference too (certainly as a player!), but different groups and different game setups can sometimes make that not as feasible.