DrunkonDuty
he/him
I came into this thread expecting more conversation about making a setting that matters to the people playing the game. And so that's what I'm going to talk about.
Be aware that, everything else being equal, different people are going to have different levels of interest. Some players will read a novel length setting guide, with history harking back to Ancient Days. But most won’t. To get most players’ interest you’ll need to be strategic.
The most important thing to do is make the players aware of the lore. If they don't know it, they can't care about it. Pretty obvious. And yet, I’ve seen lore that completely fails this basic requirement.
Given that the lore needs to be communicated to the players we now need to consider how to do that.
What we can say without a doubt is that massive info dumps rarely work. (In case you doubt that, read advice about writing, especially writing SF.) So trickle feed lore, rather than use a fire hose. And keep the lore relevant to what is happening in the game.
I strongly recommend inviting all the players to contribute to the lore. To put it another way – at session 0 (which may be more than a single session) get everyone chatting about what sort of game they want to play, and what they want to see in the game. Discuss themes and the sort of plots people want to play through. If you want buy-in, this will get you buy-in. During the session(s) act in the role of facilitator: ask questions. Encourage others to ask questions.
e.g.: “You’re playing a tiefling? Cool! Where does your character come from? Are tieflings common? Do they form communities or are they isolated individuals? How do other people look on them? Are you Damien from The Omen or Mollymauk from Mighty Nein?”
You may not have the luxury of a session 0, pick-up games, and the like. All I can say is be even more careful about not overloading players with info dump. Keep it simple. Keep it relevant. Be clear.
Also be open to players adding lore during play. If a PC is from Big City, let them contribute things about Big City during the game.
E.g.: “If you’re over 4 feet tall do NOT go into Small Town after dark. Won’t go well for you.”
Make lore an actual part of the adventure. But remember: trickle feed it and keep it relevant.
e.g.: If you’re doing a political thriller and Baron von Nasty is planning a coup, then limit the lore to why the Baron wants to overthrow the government and who the Baron’s allies are (and maybe why they’re allies.) We don’t need to know multi-generational noble lineages or ancient history about peoples who once lived on the land.
If you’re doing a dungeon crawl, knowing that there are ancient underground complexes is enough. Who built them should only matter if and when the builders become relevant.
For some styles of game the only relevant lore is “What weakness does the monster have?”
Having overlap between game mechanics and lore can certainly help interest players. e.g. the afore mentioned monster weaknesses fall here. Another example is something like the elemental rings stats in Legend of the Five Rings. These are both mechanical representation of character abilities and linked directly into the world building. Ars Magica’s magic system is another game mechanic that feeds into/supports the game lore.
And lastly, be open to feedback. Don’t be so invested in your vision that you refuse to listen to what the other players want in the game.
Be aware that, everything else being equal, different people are going to have different levels of interest. Some players will read a novel length setting guide, with history harking back to Ancient Days. But most won’t. To get most players’ interest you’ll need to be strategic.
The most important thing to do is make the players aware of the lore. If they don't know it, they can't care about it. Pretty obvious. And yet, I’ve seen lore that completely fails this basic requirement.
Given that the lore needs to be communicated to the players we now need to consider how to do that.
What we can say without a doubt is that massive info dumps rarely work. (In case you doubt that, read advice about writing, especially writing SF.) So trickle feed lore, rather than use a fire hose. And keep the lore relevant to what is happening in the game.
I strongly recommend inviting all the players to contribute to the lore. To put it another way – at session 0 (which may be more than a single session) get everyone chatting about what sort of game they want to play, and what they want to see in the game. Discuss themes and the sort of plots people want to play through. If you want buy-in, this will get you buy-in. During the session(s) act in the role of facilitator: ask questions. Encourage others to ask questions.
e.g.: “You’re playing a tiefling? Cool! Where does your character come from? Are tieflings common? Do they form communities or are they isolated individuals? How do other people look on them? Are you Damien from The Omen or Mollymauk from Mighty Nein?”
You may not have the luxury of a session 0, pick-up games, and the like. All I can say is be even more careful about not overloading players with info dump. Keep it simple. Keep it relevant. Be clear.
Also be open to players adding lore during play. If a PC is from Big City, let them contribute things about Big City during the game.
E.g.: “If you’re over 4 feet tall do NOT go into Small Town after dark. Won’t go well for you.”
Make lore an actual part of the adventure. But remember: trickle feed it and keep it relevant.
e.g.: If you’re doing a political thriller and Baron von Nasty is planning a coup, then limit the lore to why the Baron wants to overthrow the government and who the Baron’s allies are (and maybe why they’re allies.) We don’t need to know multi-generational noble lineages or ancient history about peoples who once lived on the land.
If you’re doing a dungeon crawl, knowing that there are ancient underground complexes is enough. Who built them should only matter if and when the builders become relevant.
For some styles of game the only relevant lore is “What weakness does the monster have?”
Having overlap between game mechanics and lore can certainly help interest players. e.g. the afore mentioned monster weaknesses fall here. Another example is something like the elemental rings stats in Legend of the Five Rings. These are both mechanical representation of character abilities and linked directly into the world building. Ars Magica’s magic system is another game mechanic that feeds into/supports the game lore.
And lastly, be open to feedback. Don’t be so invested in your vision that you refuse to listen to what the other players want in the game.
