Lore Isn't Important

[aramis erak]

Just the day to find this!

And yet, my players have commented on the, uh, interesting takes I've had on Pendragon. And on the Realms. And on Trek.
So, for many of my players, how much lore I know has been a relevant concern of theirs.

 

[John Lloyd1]

My view is that lore should be inspirational but not tied down. You should be able to place it anywhere you need when it seems useful.

 

[Aldarc]

I think lore is incredibly underrated.

Considering the sheer amount of material there is dedicated to GM world-building and setting lore, I would say that it's the reverse: lore is vastly overrated.

Threads like this serve as healthy corrections that take it down a few notches.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

Two of my players are lore nerds. No matter what system we play, they crave their lore fix. So I give it to them shrug.

 

[AnotherGuy]

As a DM
1. I find lore inspirational.
2. Lore can assist in the consistency of the storytelling.
3. The availability of lore (especially after 5 editions) provides assistance for in-game research.
4. Lore can set tone/theme of the campaign.

And then you have some players that like lore.

 

[RuinousPowers]

Lore fills the gaps that I don't feel like filling.

I would never try to follow the lore for the established D&D settings- I'm not interested in trying to remain faithful to whatever novel they are trying to sell.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

Lore fills the gaps that I don't feel like filling.

I would never try to follow the lore for the established D&D settings- I'm not interested in trying to remain faithful to whatever novel they are trying to sell.

I would love it if WotC had novels they would try to sell

 

[Scribe]

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

I like lore a lot, it's the cornerstone of my GMing (and one of the primary causes of it too), a lot of the positive feedback I get is that it feels like everything in my world goes deep, like if they question something, there's a good reason and set of connections that underlie it. Similarly, I really value exploration conceptually-- I like secrets and uncovering mysteries tucked into the game world and setting material. I like the idea that my players can trust that they can ask questions authentically, confident that there will be an interesting answer for them.

If anything, I think people get too wrapped up in plot, but the medium actively works against well-structured storytelling, I think games largely succeed more as spaces rife with narrative, where the story is a series of events that happened in retrospect as we interacted with that space.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Lore can be significant, important but also something you change to fit your table. I think when you run an existing setting it isn’t do much about adhering to lore but curating it. A lot of people for instance like a particular era of a settings development but don’t use things that came earlier or later in the line. It should definitely not be a straight jacket