What makes setting lore "actually matter" to the players?

[doctorbadwolf]

o it became part of the question --- what makes lore actually matter from a play perspective? Because races are without question "lore" for a setting.

I can find interest in this question, if i ignore the entire rest of the post and thread, so i will endeavor to do so.

The main thing that makes players care about the lore elements of their character is to ask them questions that tie them to those elements beyond the stats.

Specifics depend on setting so i will assume FR for common language.

Your character is a tabaxi, are you from chult, maztica, or is your family an imigrant family and if so where? Are you lazy like most felines, with bursts of extreme energy? Are you easily overstimulated?

But know that the player usually hasnt thought that deep because there is jo reason to because most people do not get bothered by whether a frog person is treated differently by the world than a cat person. that is not a failure of player or game, it is an unusual expectation that you need to communicate to the group before session 1. There is no other way to make a cosmetic choice not just cosmetic.

Going outside species, i can say that my players are always invested in lore. It always matters in my campaigns.

Every PC has 3 Contacts tied to their past, and tied to the world and its lore. Every PC has told me about their upbringing at least a couple sentences. I do the work to give them hooks and tidbits that speak to their past, home, family, etc.

I remind them of thier phisiology. When the Troll (think rock trolls and Ludo and such not dnd trolls) character does dope monk stuff i insert their massive rough-skinned form with its moss where hair should be and black-scelera eyes and etc as i describe how thier action plays out in the scene. I remind the gnome ranger how her crystaline eyes absorb and refract the light and turn deeper and darker the more they absorb all the light that hits them, and since sh3 is a forest gnome she hears animal sounds and knows what they mean so i describe the sounds and tudbits of what the animals are saying to eachother. I ask the elf what this part of town looked like last they were here, 120 years ago.

It is very much your job as DM to paint the world. If the color pallete doesnt suit you, fix it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The cultural progression of RPG is all about the slow erosion of GMing power after all.

How can you possibly state something like that as an objective fact? Progression suggests moving a positive direction. I get this is likely positive for you, but that's all you can speak for. And in any case how do you expect this "slow erosion of GM power" to work? Are GMs supposed to stop caring about what they want out of a game and just service the player's needs in your vision?

 

[innerdude]

The main thing that makes players care about the lore elements of their character is to ask them questions that tie them to those elements beyond the stats.

Specifics depend on setting so i will assume FR for common language.

Your character is a tabaxi, are you from chult, maztica, or is your family an imigrant family and if so where? Are you lazy like most felines, with bursts of extreme energy? Are you easily overstimulated?

But know that the player usually hasnt thought that deep because there is jo reason to because most people do not get bothered by whether a frog person is treated differently by the world than a cat person. that is not a failure of player or game, it is an unusual expectation that you need to communicate to the group before session 1. There is no other way to make a cosmetic choice not just cosmetic.

Yep. And again, my personal preference now is to just be done with the "pretend theater" of choosing a race/heritage.

"You can choose human as your race. Period, the end."

Going outside species, i can say that my players are always invested in lore. It always matters in my campaigns.

Every PC has 3 Contacts tied to their past, and tied to the world and its lore. Every PC has told me about their upbringing at least a couple sentences. I do the work to give them hooks and tidbits that speak to their past, home, family, etc.

I remind them of thier phisiology. When the Troll (think rock trolls and Ludo and such not dnd trolls) character does dope monk stuff i insert their massive rough-skinned form with its moss where hair should be and black-scelera eyes and etc as i describe how thier action plays out in the scene. I remind the gnome ranger how her crystaline eyes absorb and refract the light and turn deeper and darker the more they absorb all the light that hits them, and since sh3 is a forest gnome she hears animal sounds and knows what they mean so i describe the sounds and tudbits of what the animals are saying to eachother. I ask the elf what this part of town looked like last they were here, 120 years ago.

Sure, all good for you and your group. I just don't care about making the effort for this anymore. I don't care about having to construct/describe/maintain those kinds of details about each of the various PCs and their selected heritages, nor maintain the cultural impacts and zeitgeists for each heritage, etc.

You want to differentiate your character? Cool, then tell me how your human character is unique. How do they dress? What are their personality traits? What are their worldviews? That's waaaaaay more interesting to me than maintaining the illusion of how their "scaly / feathery / furry skin" is affected by the weather.

It is very much your job as DM to paint the world. If the color pallete doesnt suit you, fix it.

Yep. Exactly what I do. "Everyone's a human, next question."