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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DrunkonDuty" data-source="post: 4162329" data-attributes="member: 54364">[CODE]Afrodyte wrote:I was going to list some of my own ideas, but I should probably do that on another thread.[/CODE] No, this is the perfect place. Would love to hear what you have in mind.I get what you mean about some contrast on the good/evil scale, adds more depth. Nothing wrong with just plain old malicious and cruel critters. All for it. And Bugbears and Gnolls do have that terrible, bestial appearance. The Bugbears in my Borderlands are definitely cruel and vicious, but some have enough pragmatism to realise that human traders can provide benefits above and beyond filling the pot. My Gnolls have only rarely seen a human. They live in a desolate area of basalt peaks from where they carry on their endless vendettas among themselves and against the Yildiz Hobgoblins who long ago drove them from their ancient homes on the high prairie.I am pretty familiar with Greyhawk. Long been a fave of mine!! I vaguely recall someone (either here on Enworld or on Canonfire) talking about using the border area between Ket and Bissel as a great area for adventure. The whole clash of cultures thing that takes place there. Was that you per chance?Re: using less familiar backgrounds.The info dump is a hard thing to do well. Even more so when what you're trying to convey is background stuff rather than something of immediate relevance to the plot. Main problem is getting the players to pay attention long enough to get the info. across. Of course if they're not then the GM is probably not presenting it in a manner to interest them. One thing that I've tried is the use of tales within the game. Tales of long ago that illustrate the point you are trying to get across or contain literal details they need. Begin with giving them a few vague hints and then get the players to make skill checks (History, Religion, Bardic Lore, what ever) so as they can remember more details. Once you get players rolling dice they do get all excited and focussed. (I know I do  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" /> )This can backfire.Once had the platyers dedicate a session and a half to tyeing to track down if a mythological character called Fafnr was real or not. All because there was a curse going around the Dwarven Kingdom, called Fafnr's Curse, that turned honest, hardworking Dwarves into thieves. Now I was just using a nice, poetic name. Unfortunately the guys read so much more into it. I tried discouraging them. In the end had to be blunt and say they were chasing their own tails. And all because they were expecting me to be hinting at stuff when  I wasn't. My own bad reputation caused that.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":o" title="Eek!    :o"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":o" /> cheers all.</blockquote>

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