What should the players be expected to know about the setting and their characters?

[OneRedRook]

So, with all that said, what things should I concentrate on putting in such a reference booklet and what should I avoid?

So, uh, first-time-long time. Hi, Enworld!

There's been some really good advice in this thread, hopefully this post adds a bit more.

Quickleaf had an interesting point I want to add to. Players have a formalised way of hooking into background info by way of Knowledge checks and the like. It might be worthwhile creating reference broken down by relevant skill, so when a player asks "Can I make a knowledge check to see if...", you can say "sure, but before you roll here's what you already know".

I'd suggest avoiding a large Wall of Text for these, but rather break each check down into small sections by topic within each "knowledge". This allows the player to quickly get to the point without holding up play, and it lets them to catch up on this information as they become interested in it (and thus more likely to remember it). Also, players can get an idea of what else is there as they skim the page, and follow up on that if / when it starts to become relevant.

Another thing to consider is that when players are just starting a campaign, amongst all the things they're doing there are three which I think are worth pointing out. Firstly, they're trying to find the adventure. Secondly, they're feeling out how their character ideas work with that adventure and setting. And thirdly, they're testing the various interactions between their PC and other PCs and NPCs.

Anything information that's not directly relevant to the current situation is probably competing against those three processes, and as a GM you don't want any of those things to lose out. So before the first session, I'd suggest give them only the essentials for their character concept (eg, racial naming conventions, basics on their chosen faith, etc), and waiting a couple of sessions or so before starting with the "here's some general stuff you know" handouts. Give them a bit of time to get the hang of the campaign, and to get excited about it. If you went with the skill reference idea above, then this might be a good point to give out those bits of information which don't naturally lend themselves to being catagorised in a skill. But again, prefer being relevant and concise over breadth of knowledge.

Lastly, just to re-iterate a previous poster, props are cool.

Even if you don't think these ideas will help, I hope they help clarify what you do think will work.

Hroc
(Who knew Wall of Text was so high level?)

 

[AeroDm]

Because I want it to be relevant to playing. As a quick and very concise for instance, I have four coinage systems (five, but the fifth is technically not a system). The PC's would only be familiar with one of them but would obviously know a foreign coin if they found one and would know the very basics of that coinage, ie. this is an orcish denomination.

I'm a big fan of making the world relevant to the adventure at hand but it took me a while to figure out that while I could encourage it, I couldn't force it. If you make it too relevant you end up pushing out players who can't (or aren't willing) to commit your material to memory. People can still be an asset to your game table even if they are drawn there for different reasons than you. (Please read that as aspirational, not accusatory).

My solution was to cut way back on what I thought was important so that the real gems could shine through. I also tried to make my fluff easier to understand (shameless plug) by putting myself in the position of the player least interested in it and figuring out what it would take to motivate him. It helped a lot.

 

[Ariosto]

I say cover details as they come up in play. If they are not actually interesting in play, then why bother with them?

Real-life trivia is the same way. I've got an autism spectrum disorder, and I know too well how easy it is to lose normal people's interest with "information overload".

When people are really curious about something, they will ask about it!

Fifteen pages of "homework" for players is too much. Hell, the overview of "The World of Tekumel" in Empire of the Petal Throne is only about 7,000 words -- about 6 pages as typeset -- and it is overkill for players.

D&D these days has about a 300-page player handbook, so what's the deal? Well, the deal is that players don't have to read even any chapter exhaustively. They can find whatever data they need to do what they want to do right now, then close the book and get on with playing. Alternatively, someone else (e.g., the DM) who knows the rule can tell them what they need to know.

It should be the same way with game background. If someone goes to buy an over-robe of gydru in "Salarvyani black" and wonders why it is more costly than one of firya in azure blue, then start to tell him. Maybe the pieces of information will come up in other contexts.

Then again, maybe people will be too busy investigating other things that interest them more!

 

[haakon1]

Because I want it to be relevant to playing. As a quick and very concise for instance, I have four coinage systems (five, but the fifth is technically not a system). The PC's would only be familiar with one of them but would obviously know a foreign coin if they found one and would know the very basics of that coinage, ie. this is an orcish denomination.

I wouldn't put that sort of mundane, day-to-day stuff in an intro document.

Two reasons I wouldn't: (1) Not likely to be relevant to sparking ideas for character creation. (2) Not interesting to me, so not likely to be developed enough to matter.

Coinage has come up in my campaigns, but I'll just do a quick explanation (this is a coin from X country, a mix from these countries, or old from blah era), rather than getting into denominations (I default to gp, sp, cp) or what's on each realm's coinage.

I'm thinking of this stuff more like a CIA/State Department country briefing, explaining what the country is like to outsiders looking in, rather than "a day in the life" stuff. Here's a link to the CIA factbook on France: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fr.html

 

[Umbran]

Setting aside campaigns where the characters are foreigners, not from the lands or world in which the action takes place...

In general, I assume that the characters live their lives in the world, but the players are only there a few hours a month. The characters are going to know far more about their world than I, as a GM, can elucidate for the players in the time allotted. I take it as a given that I'll need to give out relevant details as they come up, rather than beforehand.

For example, right now I'm running a Deadlands game, set in 1877. No matter how much exposition about that day and age I do beforehand, some realities will simply be reiterated now and again. The biggest one for me has been, "Guys, this is not 'CSI: Old West'. Modern standards of evidence and jurisprudence do not apply here."

 

[Hussar]

Maybe I should encourage the first couple of levels of adventure towards those ends? Keep things local with small missions that help engage the players in the setting and explain through play the most important things about the setting.

Hmm. That's actually given me an idea...

This, I think, is the best way to go about it. Drop two or three details every session and don't be afraid to repeat them a few times.

And pay attention to what sticks. If you detail the separate coinage and your player's eye's glaze over every single time it comes up, well, maybe that idea is more interesting to you than to them. OTOH, if some or all the players pick up on it, make sure to reward that. Drop alternative coinage frequently and reward players who pay attention.

Maybe one merchant gives them the hairy eyeball for trying to pass off foreign coinage, but, the next guy gives them a bit of a bonus on the exchange rate.

If moons matter, then every time the PC's are outside at night, mention the moons. And, have the moons matter - if there are multiple moons and they're both full, nightime encounters should be very well lit, for example.

Again, it's all about show, don't tell.

In the current adventure I'm running, I added a detail that the city the PC's are in has cultivated a number of small fire beetles to light the city at night. So, the streets are cleaner than normal, because having foot long beetles eating the garbage every night tends to clean the streets. Plus, night time is very noisy - foot long bugs would be bloody loud.

This was all stuff that I added on the fly, but, I think it's fleshed out the city in an interesting, or at least memorable way. I think the players have grabbed onto the detail, although they haven't actually done anything with it as of yet.

 

[Quickleaf]

Now how many scenarios can you come up with off the top of your head that could involve various coinage and lead to adventure? I can think of half a dozen off the top of my head as I'm writing this.

Funny you mention coins... The other day I was brainstorming a side quest where the PCs have to track thieves who've broken into a mint to steal the first run of coins minted with the new king's image. Great minds

One easy, early 'colour' encounter clues the players in they have to watch out for the currency those cheating merchants round town sneak into your change. Then at some later point you make it a plot device. No reading required.

Exactly. Know what your players go for and aim to draw them into the setting through that as the portal.
For example, similar situation but with a "hack n slash" player... A real rat bastard half-orc screws them over, and at some point PC gets disarmed or their weapon pinned. Let them have the option of using the half orc's belt pouch as a momentary weapon to daze/blind/knock prone the half-orc. If they do, cue the bit about rough/sharp-edged Orcish coins "filling the rotten mouth of the half-breed traitor." Later at camp PC washes blood from coins and notices a new fact about them, and you drive home the point that Orcish coins are sharp and heavy!

Quickleaf had an interesting point I want to add to. Players have a formalised way of hooking into background info by way of Knowledge checks and the like. It might be worthwhile creating reference broken down by relevant skill, so when a player asks "Can I make a knowledge check to see if...", you can say "sure, but before you roll here's what you already know".

I agree and that's exactly how I run Knowledge skills in my game. Its like layers of an onion. Theres the common stuff that everyone knows - it may or may not be true - that I use to frame a scene. Then there's a baseline of knowledge about the topic at hand before a PC trained in a skill makes a check. Finally there is specialized knowledge learned when a successful check is made. Sometimes I add an extra layer of knowledge in the form of old tomes or sages which must be consulted to gain a secret or open up new use of a knowledge skill.

When the party is on a PC's home turf, like a dwarf's mountain stronghold of birth, I give the player narrative leeway about the setting if they wish. Often this would be through the form of "can I? / do I?" knowledge checks, to which the answer on a successful check is "yes."

So before the first session, I'd suggest give them only the essentials for their character concept (eg, racial naming conventions, basics on their chosen faith, etc), and waiting a couple of sessions or so before starting with the "here's some general stuff you know" handouts. Give them a bit of time to get the hang of the campaign, and to get excited about it. If you went with the skill reference idea above, then this might be a good point to give out those bits of information which don't naturally lend themselves to being catagorised in a skill. But again, prefer being relevant and concise over breadth of knowledge.

Did we used to game together? I did exactly this in my last game, waited after first session or two to give setting one-page handout. I think the first thing players learned about setting was the map they saw in the lord's secret chamber where they met. And of course it was a prop.

Maybe I should encourage the first couple of levels of adventure towards those ends? Keep things local with small missions that help engage the players in thesetting and explain through play the most important things about the setting.

Show THEN tell? That sounds like a good approach for any level.

 

[Hussar]

Yeah, going to chime in with an extra helping of kudos for the idea of props.

Props are FANTASTIC. Giving someone something they can hold in their hands will focus their attention far, far more than any amount of reading material.