Your "social setting"

[Kahuna Burger]

A lot of moral quandry/social debate threads seem to boil down at some point to the "midieval europe is like this" vs "I don't game in medieval europe" debate. Some people say "playing your character with modern sensibilities" like its a bad thing and others are perfectly happy with modern sensibilities. I've also seen conflicts erupt when one player assumes that his character's behavior is 'realistic for the setting' and others think he's playing a psycho.

So where is your game set socially? And as a subquestion, do you think there is a default social setting for D&D games or should assumptions about social dynamics always be spelled out when starting a new game?

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

My game has modern sensibilities, with some medieval tidbits/urban legend/falsehoods thrown in. This is what works for our group.

I never defined this for the players, it is just the way the games have turned out. My groups are not made of players who have any interest in gamer theory, message board debates, etc. They are, for the most part, simple hack-n-slash folk who occasionally do something like talking to the bartender in order to show that they are roleplaying.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I like to play around with the social setting whenever I'm making a new homebrew setting, so that would put me in the social dynamics spelled out starting a new game. Sometimes, when I'm creating a new race that is physiologically different from humans, I like to think about the social impact on their culture.

For instance, what if there was a species where there was actually a transmittable gene that caused some of them to be significantly physically and intellectually superior in their own subrace, although their children might not be superior, and the children of two 'inferiors' might be. Now what if there were actually three definable strata? What kind of social changes might result? What if there was a new race where the females could extract genetic information from blood using their fangs in a vampire-like manner, and that is how they initiate reproduction. What are the implications there? (to start with an easy one, for one thing, same-sex marriages between women can produce children, so they would be seen in a different light)

Or even with standard races, if you look at Eyros, that is also an experiment in social setting--what would the world look like if the most powerful nation was ruled by orcs, humans, and their first-generation half-orc children.

 

[Sejs]

I selected "My own social structure based on the effects of magic and historical events of my campaign world." as the closest approximation. I currently run in a modified version of the Forgotten Realms, so the social setting as a whole tends to change from culture to culture. When possible I try to draw on a given culture's closest historical analogue to use a base and then modify it from there as mentioned above. So for example, right now in my game, the PCs are smack in the middle of Calimshan, which on the whole has an arabian/turkish vibe to it, and thus the social structure is based on that rather than a default pseudomedieval europe. If later they went to Sembia or Cormyr, things would be closer to the general standard.


If I understand the question posed, however, it's more one of social standards and mores, yes? As in do the proper authorities arrest the badguys to be carted off to 'jail', or is jail just the place they keep you before you're executed? In that regard I suppose I'm sort of in the middle of things; again, it depends on where you are in the world. If you're in a more civilized region, social standards move forward through the ages though none are fully modern. Likewise, the more removed from civilization you get the more, ah, 'brutally historically accurate' things become. If you're not in the cradle of civilization, justice tends to come in one of five forms: restitution, public humiliation, exile, maiming, and at swordpoint. Get caught stealing food? You're going to owe a debt (probably paid off by indentured service) at best, maybe lose a hand at worst. Rape a girl? You're probably going to die, and if you don't you arn't going to have to worry about shaking hands with the pope any longer. That's the baseline - then add in the question of social strata, and things get ... interesting.


Anyway, that's my game in a nutshell.

 

[Haltherrion]

So where is your game set socially? And as a subquestion, do you think there is a default social setting for D&D games or should assumptions about social dynamics always be spelled out when starting a new game?

I like the gaming sessions of course but I like world creation at least as much so I like to create my own settings, both social and otherwise. I tend to incorporate some feudal-like aspects in my settings because I like the concept but its a matter of taste. I do like to try to extrapolate plausible (to me ) worlds based on the level of magic, creature types, etc. that I select for a setting. I think D&D magic is relatively high powered and likely to have a profound affect on a setting, more so than most medieval settings postulate. But that said, I've used medieval-esque settings before and will no doubt use them again. They are a comfortable & convenient setting since the periuod is relatively well known to most D&D players. I think this medieval setting is talen as the default setting by most players I know but it never hurts to be explicit and spell out your assumptions as a ref.

 

[gamecat]

"My own social structure based on the effects of magic and historical events of my campaign world."

My game centers on a human meritocratic magocracy. It is based on feudal europe's elements (serfdom, landed families) but is gender-egalitarian, and has an intricate system of trade between provinces.

 

[Jraynack]

So where is your game set socially? And as a subquestion, do you think there is a default social setting for D&D games or should assumptions about social dynamics always be spelled out when starting a new game?

Well, we have been playtesting the Fuedal Lords Campaign Setting for the past two years. Though it is an unique setting in its own right, I run it as a heavily medieval setting similar to Europe, England, Italy, and the crusading Middle East.

I think common social graces and laws (basic things that the character already knows growing up in such a setting) should be briefly explained to players so that they may try carve an unique niche for their characters. Other things, such as more in depth social customs, should be discovered during game play to spice up the session and keep them on their toes.

The more one searches on how things worked during a particular period (studying laws, political structure, social customs, etc.) will spawn dozens of unexpected adventure ideas for any gamemaster.

For instance, it was illegal to sell or trade apprentices during the feudal period - so characters can be initially hired to find an apprentice who ran away only to discover that he was traded illegally by old master which is why he ran away from his new master.

A good campaign model that did well to make an unique setting while bringing a realistic viewpoint on how people have adapted socially to their own world is Dark Sun. To have characters voluntarily decide to raid a caravan because the party was low on water or might have a steel weapon are priceless moments.

Plus, the more characters begin to understand the social complexities of a world, the more players begin to see it as a living, breathing entity that they are a part of and will begin making party decisions without proding from the GM.

 

[el-remmen]

Well, different cultures in the setting have different standards of what is acceptable behavior and atttitudes - in some places it is closer to "modern"* and others have a more "medieval" feel to them.

I guess I never overtly tell the players, "this is what society is like" but I hope they glean it from the info I give them and I answer any detail they want to know about the culture in the geekish minutae that only a DM can have.

In some places in Aquerra, for example, female characters will be ignored or worse simply b/c they are women (true is the same for people of different races), being a PC does not exempt you from that - though the average person might be wary about what he says or does around a woman carrying around a great sword

In some place it is totally acceptable to dump your chamber pot in the street - that is just what people did in the time and with the technology the average fantasy setting emulates.

There is no "talking back" to people in authority either. I mean, you can have your character do it - but there are going to be consequences - people tend to smart mouth authority these days and talk snap about their leaders to their faces or to their followers' faces - that doesn't fly in most psuedo-medieval cultures. I would try to prevail upon a player that a character raised in such a society would have deeply ingrained taboos about such behavior.

But then again, there is always room for exceptions in any society. . .

Some things remain constant in the setting though - which are probably influenced by a modern sensibility. For example, slavery is evil and abhorant - does that mean that some good and neutral people don't have slaves? No, it doesn't - it just means that freeing a slave is always "good" (though not always "lawful") regardless of the circumstances.

All of that to say. . .I had a hard time deciding which poll choice to pick so I took the last one. . .

* (though modern has a lot of ground to cover b/c there are people living all over the world with different ideas of what is acceptable - in some places men and women don't dance together, or in another straight male friends hold hands, etc. . )

 

[kanithardm]

I've also seen conflicts erupt when one player assumes that his character's behavior is 'realistic for the setting' and others think he's playing a psycho.

Well thats because in REAL life people think they're normal and yet, there iis always someone who will think they are a psycho. Or in my players case EVERYONE thinks they are psychos.
Not kidding.

 

[Imret]

Well, it's been altered to accomodate the use of magic, but it's far more like the Mediterranean and Near East during the early Iron Age than it is medieval Europe. Or at least, that'd be the cultural mores through most human-settled lands. The rest of the races are all over the map, culturally; I want non-human society to look appropriately alien to PCs.