The history of your world

[der_kluge]

In thinking about setting history, I was curious how much of your own settings is either developed, or known by your players?

This was prompted by a discussion somewhere about the Wilderlands rather cooky history involving space aliens. One theory was to just leave it as-is, and just assume that no one would ever really find out about it anyway. What was really important was just recent events, and the game plots.

So, one theory was to keep the Wilderland's plot as it is, and just basically ignore it. Consider that it's so far in ancient history, that no one knows anything about it.

It got me to wondering about people's individual campaign settings.

Have you developed a detailed world creation for your world?
Do you know how everything came to be - the origins of all the races? Or do you care?
Do your players know this origin? How much of it do they know?

 

[kenobi65]

I've found that, by and large, my players don't really seem to care about the background of the game world. So, some bits might get revealed as part of a story, but otherwise, I don't go out of my way anymore to get that information to them, unless they ask.

 

[Rystil Arden]

In one of my homebrew worlds, the players slowly unearthed information about the origins of the world as it is today as they went through several unrelated adventures and then an adventure that drew them into the archaeology (to the point that the only one to go epic so far took Epic Skill Focus: Decipher Script as her only epic feat). Eventually, they were thrown back in time and got to see some of that history first-hand, which was pretty cool

 

[demiurge1138]

When I had a long, involved homebrew, I included a timeline of the world and the relations between the various kingdoms and city-states along with the races and gods packet. I don't think any of my players paid much attention to them.

Demiurge out.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I've found that, by and large, my players don't really seem to care about the background of the game world. So, some bits might get revealed as part of a story, but otherwise, I don't go out of my way anymore to get that information to them, unless they ask.

Ditto that.

Serioulsy, there was a time when I went to great lengths to describe why trade routes had developed, why nations had antipahty toward one another and all manner of stuff through a reasonably conplete history.

But the players just didn't seem to care all that much.

I still build my words that way for my own amusement, but I don't bother offering up the info unless it is sought out.

 

[grimwell]

I tend to spend a lot of time detailing the background for my homebrew games. It helps 'center' me in the campaign environment and gives me a better contextual understanding for my NPCs. Plus I just enjoy it.

That being said, my players don't get exposed to heavy doses of this during character generation. I give them enough information to know where their people fit into the world and leave it at that. If they get excited and start digging into the history, I give them appropriate information and use the historical pull as a seed for further adventure (go places, see things, learn the history, etc.).

If they don't, I leave it at that and still have a good time.

 

[helium3]

Players generally don't seem to care, but watch out for the ones that do. So, having some idea of the world's history is important for that rare event.

You could always make the players learn some of it by putting them in situations where such knowledge is required for survival or success. But then, the players might get pissy about it if they don't also get something out of it.

 

[Turjan]

Have you developed a detailed world creation for your world?

No, not really. The gods don't mingle with the mortals in my homebrew. This means there are lots of different myths, but no real fixed history.

Do you know how everything came to be - the origins of all the races? Or do you care?

I care. The detail is "medium" though, even if there are only three major races. I have migratory patterns that are generally known to the peoples of my homebrew. The history of the last few hundred years is most of the time well known.

Do your players know this origin? How much of it do they know?

They don't know much about the origin. I think they might have been able to understand a bit more of the origin of the human peoples in my setting, but it didn't come into play - yet - so they might not have noticed. I don't talk about historical details, either, except where necessary or very obvious from some peculiar situations they must deal with.

 

[der_kluge]

Anyone else?

 

[The Cardinal]

I've found that, by and large, my players don't really seem to care about the background of the game world. So, some bits might get revealed as part of a story, but otherwise, I don't go out of my way anymore to get that information to them, unless they ask.

also ditto: my last three fantasy homebrews (incl. one for straight D&D) were actually "sf-creations" - the players never really found out, or cared...