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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7393300" data-attributes="member: 82106">Its establishing genre and milieu, which certainly verge into setting, and also influencing tone (IE lore that includes wacky kazoo playing clowns that fight undead is quite different from orcs and goblins). Clearly there's still things like history, geography, politics, locations, events, characters, etc. that would all make up the 'meat' of a classic setting. Clearly you don't have a setting without that stuff, as WoG and FR clearly demonstrate (two settings which use virtually identical lore, often share lore, and yet are clearly distinct in some ways). In some cases the combination of 'lore' and mechanics can also virtually define the setting. This is most clearly illustrated by Classic Traveler, where the Imperium simply 'emerges' from the combination of mechanical systems for character generation, adjudication of various activities (trading, bribing, finding patrons), and creation of local setting details (subsector mapping, system mapping, planet mapping, creation of local flora and fauna, etc.). If you simply follow these rules, a subsector of the Third Imperium WILL emerge! Some things are left open, exactly what the Empire IS, etc. but its society and economy, and some aspects of its military/government, are very clearly defined in terms of their effects on the PCs and their environment. I mean, you can spin things differently, but you have to consciously frame things in a way that produces a different interpretation, and even then some things are really pretty hard-coded (IE Social Standing as a basic character stat and its meaning).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 7393300, member: 82106"] Its establishing genre and milieu, which certainly verge into setting, and also influencing tone (IE lore that includes wacky kazoo playing clowns that fight undead is quite different from orcs and goblins). Clearly there's still things like history, geography, politics, locations, events, characters, etc. that would all make up the 'meat' of a classic setting. Clearly you don't have a setting without that stuff, as WoG and FR clearly demonstrate (two settings which use virtually identical lore, often share lore, and yet are clearly distinct in some ways). In some cases the combination of 'lore' and mechanics can also virtually define the setting. This is most clearly illustrated by Classic Traveler, where the Imperium simply 'emerges' from the combination of mechanical systems for character generation, adjudication of various activities (trading, bribing, finding patrons), and creation of local setting details (subsector mapping, system mapping, planet mapping, creation of local flora and fauna, etc.). If you simply follow these rules, a subsector of the Third Imperium WILL emerge! Some things are left open, exactly what the Empire IS, etc. but its society and economy, and some aspects of its military/government, are very clearly defined in terms of their effects on the PCs and their environment. I mean, you can spin things differently, but you have to consciously frame things in a way that produces a different interpretation, and even then some things are really pretty hard-coded (IE Social Standing as a basic character stat and its meaning). [/QUOTE]

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