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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 9143549" data-attributes="member: 6785785">I have a couple of examples that may suit."Spire: The City Must Fall" is a game that's about society, inequality, oppression, and revolution and its cost. It's a game about espionage, subterfuge, and resistance.There are several worldbuilding choices made to reinforce those themes. The game takes place in the eponymous Spire, a mile high city of unknown origin (called an Arcology, of which there are several others in the world) that once belonged to the Drow, but has now been taken over by the high-elves, or Aelfir. The Aelfir rule the city and the Drow, using them for labor, entertainment, and conscripting many to fight in a war against the Gnolls of Far Nujab. Some Gnolls have made their way to Spire, as have many Humans, who are curious by nature and tend to tinker with the Arcologies like Spire and other technological remnants.Of those racial options, the game requires that all PCs be Drow. This is a choice to help focus the themes of the game by making the players take on the roles of those for whom they're most relevant.The PCs are also members of a secret cabal devoted to resisting Aelfir rule, the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress. This puts them directly into situations that will require espionage and resistance. They’re meant to actively involve themselves in resisting high-elf rule. The city itself is divided into multiple levels or districts, each with its own vibe and its own situations going on. So if you want to involve gangs and the drug trade and similar content, you should play in Red Row. If you want to focus on the heights of Aelfir authority, then Amaranth is the district for you. Now, I wasn’t privy to the designers’ process, but I don’t think that these world elements were designed ahead of the design considerations. Like, they knew the themes of their game and then designed the world to deliver those themes in play. “Blades in the Dark” is similar. The city of Doskvol was designed to help deliver the intended play experience. The characters are daring criminals who have to take what they want. But they have to face the consequences of their actions. What makes that harder? The PCs can’t easily skip town and lay low. The city is isolated, mostly cut off from other cities, surrounded by haunted wastelands and contained by a lightning barrier that keeps horrors from entering the city. The Ghost Field permeates everything and can be a hindrance to the PCs or a tool they can use, if they want to risk it. There are all kinds of factions in the city, and no matter how tough the PC crew gets, there’s always a tougher faction out there. All of these decisions made for worldbuilding are made to serve play. The designers of both games first thought about the game, and then built their world to suit. I think that’s vital for the idea of worldbuilding with a mind toward playability.</blockquote>

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