Only the Lonely: Why We Demand Official Product

[Paul Farquhar]

The most important thing to me that official settings can give us a common world. I can go to any RPG club and all the players know the setting immediately. They know the major NPCs, movers and shakers, history, geography, cultures etc... It makes creating a new party already immersed in the world very easy.

Which is a major problem if the players know the setting better than the DM.

 

[prabe]

Yes it is, if you learn it in the parts the PCs are adventuring in and learn the rest slowly as they travel, or not, depending on the campaign.

Not trying to pick on you, but ...

Isn't that more or less what you'd do if you were homebrewing the setting, though? Write the parts where the PCs are and work outward from there? I mean, it's what I did. The two campaigns I'm running are both on the same continent (different times) but there are places outside of that that are ... a couple paragraphs of notes each, I guess, and some places that I know exist that I haven't worked out names or anything for.

 

[Maxperson]

There is a big difference between reading something and knowing something well enough to use it in a game.

I guess if you have the memory capacity of a slug, sure. It doesn't take much time at all to read and know the small region the party is adventuring in.

Why are you fighting so hard to keep DMs who need a pre-written campaign from having one? Why can't both you and they have fun?

 

[prabe]

Which is a major problem if the players know the setting better than the DM.

That's a major part of the reason I don't want to run a game with a published canon. There will be players who know it better than I do, and there will be ... struggles over ownership is how I guess I want to put it.

 

[Maxperson]

Not trying to pick on you, but ...

Isn't that more or less what you'd do if you were homebrewing the setting, though? Write the parts where the PCs are and work outward from there? I mean, it's what I did. The two campaigns I'm running are both on the same continent (different times) but there are places outside of that that are ... a couple paragraphs of notes each, I guess, and some places that I know exist that I haven't worked out names or anything for.

Sure, if I had around 200x the time that I have. It takes a lot more time to create even a small area, with inns, castles, ruins, NPCs, etc., than it does to just read about it.

It's far, FAR more than a couple paragraphs of notes. While a couple paragraphs would work for me, since I'm really good at improvising as I mention above, the many DMs not good at improvising would need a great deal more pre-written.

 

[Maxperson]

That's a major part of the reason I don't want to run a game with a published canon. There will be players who know it better than I do, and there will be ... struggles over ownership is how I guess I want to put it.

I've heard that suggested before by other people, but haven't experienced it myself. Of course, I let my players know that I do change things about the setting that I don't like. For example, I run the forgotten realms, but as I really like King Azoun, he didn't die in my game. Even players who know more will generally happily deal with changes to canon.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I guess if you have the memory capacity of a slug, sure.

Then I have the memory capacity of a slug. Thanks.

It doesn't take much time at all to read and know the small region the party is adventuring in.

That depends on which campaign setting you are using and how it is set out. If it is, for example, the 3rd edition FR book, it takes about 10 minutes to read about a region, and then 3 hours to flesh it out with the detail you need to run a game set there. If it's the new Eberron book, you have to know the whole 320 page book, because the info about organisations, items etc is scattered across multiple sections. I've been reading it since it came out, and I still don't know it well enough to avoid having to look things up mid-session.

Why are you fighting so hard to keep DMs who need a pre-written campaign from having one? Why can't both you and they have fun?

Seems to me we have plenty of pre-written settings already.

 

[prabe]

Sure, if I had around 200x the time that I have. It takes a lot more time to create even a small area, with inns, castles, ruins, NPCs, etc., than it does to just read about it.

It's far, FAR more than a couple paragraphs of notes. While a couple paragraphs would work for me, since I'm really good at improvising as I mention above, the many DMs not good at improvising would need a great deal more pre-written.

Fair enough, if you want that kind of detail. I tend more toward just-enough. They're only staying at the one inn, for instance, how many more do they need? The parties are more goal-oriented than locaton-oriented, so I haven't needed to work out every single location within three days' travel of a given city (which it sounds as though you feel you need to do).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sure, if I had around 200x the time that I have. It takes a lot more time to create even a small area, with inns, castles, ruins, NPCs, etc., than it does to just read about it.

You don't need that much information though.

One inn, one town and one dungeon is enough to start with.

 

[prabe]

I've heard that suggested before by other people, but haven't experienced it myself. Of course, I let my players know that I do change things about the setting that I don't like. For example, I run the forgotten realms, but as I really like King Azoun, he didn't die in my game. Even players who know more will generally happily deal with changes to canon.

Sure. Most of the players are buying in at least that much. I'm at least as worried about breaking their suspension of disbelief as anything else, especially as regards non-D&D stuff.