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<blockquote data-quote="GreenTengu" data-source="post: 6764774" data-attributes="member: 6777454"><p>I find a lot of people do not understand the relation between world, story and characters.</p><p></p><p>Now, let us say that we are doing a fanfic story where we delve into a well-established world and all feel we cannot introduce new things into that world without breaking it, at least if those new things run contrary to what has been established about the world prior in the stories.... Well, in this case we have all been witness to these previous stories and those previous stories were written well-enough for us to engage in them enough for us to be interested in engaging and playing a story that takes place in the world with characters much akin to the ones in the story.</p><p></p><p>You know what the dirty little secret is? The writer of those stories didn't think of the world in its entirety and then after totally deciding what existed and what didn't exist only then come up with a handful of characters that precisely fit what he had previously thought up and THEN come up with a story that would connect those characters.</p><p></p><p>Rather, what the person almost certainly did was come up with their characters first and foremost, maybe not all and maybe not in full detail, but a good concept. They then thought up the story for their characters. The world then is simply what they decided would be fitting for the backdrop of their story and, of course, whatever thing they thought up their characters being existed in their world and anything they didn't think up for a character was something that didn't exist.</p><p></p><p>George Lucas and J.R.R. Tolkien never said "I have this interesting idea for a character, BUT.... sadly I didn't write into my world that this thing existed, so I guess I have to throw it out." Nope! Particularly in the case of Lucas, (or, really, anyone working on the alien designs) if they thought it up, it existed in the world. It really was that easy. And almost certainly every additional story they wrote added something new to the world that hadn't previously existed.</p><p></p><p>So for a DM to sketch out every small detail of their world prior to any stories taking place within it and then afterwards come up with the basic story of what is going to happen and only after that to approach players and demand that they make protagonists for their story that 100% fit precisely the details they had predetermined without clashing with anything...</p><p></p><p>Well, you have just done the whole process backwards. It isn't a creative project anymore-- you have crushed the spirits of your players and excluded them from the process thus ensuring that they have no reason to engage with your world.</p><p></p><p>The smart way to do your world is to have only the vaguest ideas of setting and theme and what your world is going to contain and some ideas for what the antagonists of the world might be and some ideas of where story seeds are going to come from. Maybe even your starting location and starting point. Have an idea if you are doing horror or high fantasy or low fantasy or steampunk or... what have you.</p><p></p><p>Then ask your players what sort of protagonists they want to create. Ideally the sky should be the limit, but since this game is so stat-heavy, obviously there are some limitations on what a basic beginner character can be and can do. Still, let your players create their protagonists however they want.... which means even if you were initially considering the world to have only humans, elves, and dwarfs, if this player seems particularly keen on playing a wookie or cat-person... let them! In fact, ask them for ideas of how their character's people exist in the world and interact with others.</p><p></p><p>I mean, ideally you want at least half of your party to be the most common of folk in the world and if that means you might want to adjust what the common races in your world are (you hadn't really had any particular plans for Drow or Orcs, but it turns out because of player choices they are common citizens in your world's civilization-- in fact, maybe Drow are the only sort of Elves there are) to accommodate this unless you want to alter your starting adventure hook (maybe they are part of a carnival or they are specifically pulled in because they are weirdos and outcasts), but if the other half of your party is made up of outcasts, travelers, slaves, oppressed minorities or what have you, it works just fine.</p><p></p><p>And not just their races, of course, but their backgrounds! Allow the players to shape what the world is like with their backgrounds. If they say something in their background, it is something that exists in the world. Engaged players who feel enabled to be creative will give you backgrounds that will add additional locations and characters to your world. Bring their enemies into the fold, endanger their families, put important clues into the hands of their friends (or bring back an old friend only for it to be revealed they are now an enemy!) If a player says it is part of the character, it exists in the world.</p><p></p><p>Also, the nature of D&D is such that everyone is going to start in the same place at the same time and hopefully be on the same page... as opposed to what you can do in a book where characters are going to be introduced one by one across the first several chapters... maybe not even pop up until halfway through the adventure even if they were name-dropped in the beginning... it might be best if you can create some ties between the characters. A massive mistake I see made again and again is starting the characters off as 6 strangers who are supposed to come together, all be on the same place and from that point forward be totally inseparable despite having no previous relationship. It is so much better to have the characters tied together in ways they mutually consented to because if they have an idea of what their character's relationships are like, they can begin roleplaying right away.</p><p></p><p>Beyond that, your homebrew world should be where the adventure takes the characters from that point on. If you run a published module, then whatever that module needs to work now exists in your world. If you come up with your own thing, then add locations and people as necessary for it to work right.</p><p></p><p>Because, honestly, THAT is how authors build their worlds-- not independent of characters and story, trying to force those elements into it, but rather as the extension of the characters and story.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GreenTengu, post: 6764774, member: 6777454"] I find a lot of people do not understand the relation between world, story and characters. Now, let us say that we are doing a fanfic story where we delve into a well-established world and all feel we cannot introduce new things into that world without breaking it, at least if those new things run contrary to what has been established about the world prior in the stories.... Well, in this case we have all been witness to these previous stories and those previous stories were written well-enough for us to engage in them enough for us to be interested in engaging and playing a story that takes place in the world with characters much akin to the ones in the story. You know what the dirty little secret is? The writer of those stories didn't think of the world in its entirety and then after totally deciding what existed and what didn't exist only then come up with a handful of characters that precisely fit what he had previously thought up and THEN come up with a story that would connect those characters. Rather, what the person almost certainly did was come up with their characters first and foremost, maybe not all and maybe not in full detail, but a good concept. They then thought up the story for their characters. The world then is simply what they decided would be fitting for the backdrop of their story and, of course, whatever thing they thought up their characters being existed in their world and anything they didn't think up for a character was something that didn't exist. George Lucas and J.R.R. Tolkien never said "I have this interesting idea for a character, BUT.... sadly I didn't write into my world that this thing existed, so I guess I have to throw it out." Nope! Particularly in the case of Lucas, (or, really, anyone working on the alien designs) if they thought it up, it existed in the world. It really was that easy. And almost certainly every additional story they wrote added something new to the world that hadn't previously existed. So for a DM to sketch out every small detail of their world prior to any stories taking place within it and then afterwards come up with the basic story of what is going to happen and only after that to approach players and demand that they make protagonists for their story that 100% fit precisely the details they had predetermined without clashing with anything... Well, you have just done the whole process backwards. It isn't a creative project anymore-- you have crushed the spirits of your players and excluded them from the process thus ensuring that they have no reason to engage with your world. The smart way to do your world is to have only the vaguest ideas of setting and theme and what your world is going to contain and some ideas for what the antagonists of the world might be and some ideas of where story seeds are going to come from. Maybe even your starting location and starting point. Have an idea if you are doing horror or high fantasy or low fantasy or steampunk or... what have you. Then ask your players what sort of protagonists they want to create. Ideally the sky should be the limit, but since this game is so stat-heavy, obviously there are some limitations on what a basic beginner character can be and can do. Still, let your players create their protagonists however they want.... which means even if you were initially considering the world to have only humans, elves, and dwarfs, if this player seems particularly keen on playing a wookie or cat-person... let them! In fact, ask them for ideas of how their character's people exist in the world and interact with others. I mean, ideally you want at least half of your party to be the most common of folk in the world and if that means you might want to adjust what the common races in your world are (you hadn't really had any particular plans for Drow or Orcs, but it turns out because of player choices they are common citizens in your world's civilization-- in fact, maybe Drow are the only sort of Elves there are) to accommodate this unless you want to alter your starting adventure hook (maybe they are part of a carnival or they are specifically pulled in because they are weirdos and outcasts), but if the other half of your party is made up of outcasts, travelers, slaves, oppressed minorities or what have you, it works just fine. And not just their races, of course, but their backgrounds! Allow the players to shape what the world is like with their backgrounds. If they say something in their background, it is something that exists in the world. Engaged players who feel enabled to be creative will give you backgrounds that will add additional locations and characters to your world. Bring their enemies into the fold, endanger their families, put important clues into the hands of their friends (or bring back an old friend only for it to be revealed they are now an enemy!) If a player says it is part of the character, it exists in the world. Also, the nature of D&D is such that everyone is going to start in the same place at the same time and hopefully be on the same page... as opposed to what you can do in a book where characters are going to be introduced one by one across the first several chapters... maybe not even pop up until halfway through the adventure even if they were name-dropped in the beginning... it might be best if you can create some ties between the characters. A massive mistake I see made again and again is starting the characters off as 6 strangers who are supposed to come together, all be on the same place and from that point forward be totally inseparable despite having no previous relationship. It is so much better to have the characters tied together in ways they mutually consented to because if they have an idea of what their character's relationships are like, they can begin roleplaying right away. Beyond that, your homebrew world should be where the adventure takes the characters from that point on. If you run a published module, then whatever that module needs to work now exists in your world. If you come up with your own thing, then add locations and people as necessary for it to work right. Because, honestly, THAT is how authors build their worlds-- not independent of characters and story, trying to force those elements into it, but rather as the extension of the characters and story. [/QUOTE]
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