Today's blog I was going to discuss the next bits of my world building: SETTING!
When thinking about setting, there's a large daunting tedious amount of info to go over. Economies, societal structure, resources, and ground fertility, geographical thermodynamics, the butterfly effects on the integral structures of the weather patterns given for regions.... WAAAAAH! *exploding head noise*
No this is not how to make a setting! I was testing you!!
When creating a good setting some things to think about and run with: Brainstorming, Character, and Presentation.
Lets go into the first element - Brainstorming!
Brainstorming is a tricky endeavor. This is for some a difficult process... actually EFF that! Its not a process at all!! It's a function of your imagination so simple and basic that its a hard thing to notice!!! For example. I am going to take a "random meadow" as my example for this discussion! I won't go over every detail of my addled brain and every thought I ever had on every subject (which is easy when brainstorming happens) to spare your own delicate thoughts... but I will give you pointers!
Alright say I need to make an interesting "random meadow" for a showdown with the PCs and a major villian! But what do I want to see? I see green grasses surrounded by trees... daytime, its sort of warm.. moths butterflies whatnot. Pine trees... mixed with deciduous. Its a really wide open meadow though. One you could properly run in. I think of the trees... dark and tall.. brooding yet not evil.. almost like guardians. Somehow I know this meadow has a secret.. maybe buried underneath... I think it has been silent there for many years. This place is not all it seems to be. It's breezes do not betray this secret. I know things and people have died here, and they lend weight to this place but they do not haunt it. The secret feels more... natural.. spiritual. It never snows on this spot. it is always warm. Why? temporal displacement? A strange device underneath keeping the place warm? Its always temperate in summer... but its a place long forgotten except by a few local people would could be called witches or shamans.
Alright so I made a place up in a few minutes. Just now. I know it sounds like heavy handed poetry or some such and that I knew already what this place was. Actually in a way I did. all brainstorming can be like that! So what does this mean about a big fight with the PCs and an Arch Villain?
Depends on a lot of things! Who's the villain? who're the heroes? why are they fighting? It depends only on what you want for your story! In a campaign setting you dont need to know all the details, but you need to know there ARE details, and train yourself to LOOK for them!
Which leads me to: Character!
So what does this meadow say to you? If it were a person, what would it say? How would it feel about these people disturbing it's peace? Say the fight is on, but a PC is a druid or something and can feel it's history or knows something is hidden here... how does this place react? Do the trees animate and protect it? Is there a big pit that opens up to the machinery below? Is there fire sprites that live in the grasses? Or is it just a meadow with a big maybe behind it?
The Character of a place is why it stands out from other places. Why is New York different from Chicago? What is India like compared to Africa? What's the downtown of Detroit like compared to a rich suburb? Nailing a place down isn't to hard, and you dont have to fill out everything... keep it simple. Feel free to change this as a story progresses. The PCs may never notice how special this place is. Fine. What if the villain did? There is also no shame in just making it some random meadow either.
My third point of attention: Presentation!
This one is important! Possibly the most important... How you present your setting is up to you, in terms of your knowledge, presence, and confidence with the material. I am not going to go into every way to present a setting. You could talk about it, draw a picture, make a model, basically go with what your good at. Capturing their minds and hearts without them knowing you are spouting "flavor text" is what the aim is in a good scenario.
This is a skill that starts with basic knowledge and can only be perfected with GMing experience.
I will attempt to present the meadow.. bear in mind my writing goes much better than my speech! I usually have everyone talking smack, quoting movies or goofing off in a serious way... until I catch their minds - because I am good with talking too... once I get going. It is very easy to get distracted, but if your mind and words go into the details of what you see, the players will see it too! This is a very important note: If you don't believe in your presentation, no one else will either!
So anyway, the PCs are ready to throw down with Remulak the evil druid. They see each other from across the meadow. I say: "Its a hot summer's day. As you step into the high grasses of the meadow it gets instantly cooler. Not cold, but cooler. There's a stillness to it as a faint breeze blows past you... you can feel the weight of the surrounding pines as they stand above you vigilant judging your every step. You feel there is something more to this place as you look across the clearing at Remulak, murderer of your kin!"
Alright this sounds pretty right? This is what it's like to capture hearts and minds. Though my prose may not be perfect, did you feel what I was saying with it? did you get a first impression of this meadow I've been going on about?
Alright some things to consider about this description. If I were with my average gaming group, this would be difficult at first to say. First off the name "Remulak" has to do with the coneheads on Staurday Night Live in the 70's. My players would be making jokes. Which would lead to "remember that one time in Buffy when my character fire to that vampire? Sanchez Sanchez is soo funny!" Then I would be like, "But it's a meadow! Remulak is there!" and i might get distracted and blow the presentation. If this happens to you, you have to work on your presence! Also if Ol' Remulak is a recurring villain who's a pretty good one, he wont be so funny (also if your players don't know about the Cone Heads either) and the jokes might have been made already... unless you are running the situation for laughs... which changes it. Be wary of your players keep focus! ;D
LAST NOTE:The watch word for presentation is IMPROVISE! The cool vision of the meadow you had not working out? Save the good stuff for another day, or change the setting to the mood of the group that night! I know it's hard, but as writers who are good at writing say: "Murder your darlings! Never be afraid to Murder your darlings!" Don't get stuck on one idea even if its the best you've ever come up with. If you have knowledge, presence, and confidence; your Players will never know!
See you on the flip side,
Chris Curran artist and game bastard.
When thinking about setting, there's a large daunting tedious amount of info to go over. Economies, societal structure, resources, and ground fertility, geographical thermodynamics, the butterfly effects on the integral structures of the weather patterns given for regions.... WAAAAAH! *exploding head noise*
No this is not how to make a setting! I was testing you!!
When creating a good setting some things to think about and run with: Brainstorming, Character, and Presentation.
Lets go into the first element - Brainstorming!
Brainstorming is a tricky endeavor. This is for some a difficult process... actually EFF that! Its not a process at all!! It's a function of your imagination so simple and basic that its a hard thing to notice!!! For example. I am going to take a "random meadow" as my example for this discussion! I won't go over every detail of my addled brain and every thought I ever had on every subject (which is easy when brainstorming happens) to spare your own delicate thoughts... but I will give you pointers!
Alright say I need to make an interesting "random meadow" for a showdown with the PCs and a major villian! But what do I want to see? I see green grasses surrounded by trees... daytime, its sort of warm.. moths butterflies whatnot. Pine trees... mixed with deciduous. Its a really wide open meadow though. One you could properly run in. I think of the trees... dark and tall.. brooding yet not evil.. almost like guardians. Somehow I know this meadow has a secret.. maybe buried underneath... I think it has been silent there for many years. This place is not all it seems to be. It's breezes do not betray this secret. I know things and people have died here, and they lend weight to this place but they do not haunt it. The secret feels more... natural.. spiritual. It never snows on this spot. it is always warm. Why? temporal displacement? A strange device underneath keeping the place warm? Its always temperate in summer... but its a place long forgotten except by a few local people would could be called witches or shamans.
Alright so I made a place up in a few minutes. Just now. I know it sounds like heavy handed poetry or some such and that I knew already what this place was. Actually in a way I did. all brainstorming can be like that! So what does this mean about a big fight with the PCs and an Arch Villain?
Depends on a lot of things! Who's the villain? who're the heroes? why are they fighting? It depends only on what you want for your story! In a campaign setting you dont need to know all the details, but you need to know there ARE details, and train yourself to LOOK for them!
Which leads me to: Character!
So what does this meadow say to you? If it were a person, what would it say? How would it feel about these people disturbing it's peace? Say the fight is on, but a PC is a druid or something and can feel it's history or knows something is hidden here... how does this place react? Do the trees animate and protect it? Is there a big pit that opens up to the machinery below? Is there fire sprites that live in the grasses? Or is it just a meadow with a big maybe behind it?
The Character of a place is why it stands out from other places. Why is New York different from Chicago? What is India like compared to Africa? What's the downtown of Detroit like compared to a rich suburb? Nailing a place down isn't to hard, and you dont have to fill out everything... keep it simple. Feel free to change this as a story progresses. The PCs may never notice how special this place is. Fine. What if the villain did? There is also no shame in just making it some random meadow either.
My third point of attention: Presentation!
This one is important! Possibly the most important... How you present your setting is up to you, in terms of your knowledge, presence, and confidence with the material. I am not going to go into every way to present a setting. You could talk about it, draw a picture, make a model, basically go with what your good at. Capturing their minds and hearts without them knowing you are spouting "flavor text" is what the aim is in a good scenario.
This is a skill that starts with basic knowledge and can only be perfected with GMing experience.
I will attempt to present the meadow.. bear in mind my writing goes much better than my speech! I usually have everyone talking smack, quoting movies or goofing off in a serious way... until I catch their minds - because I am good with talking too... once I get going. It is very easy to get distracted, but if your mind and words go into the details of what you see, the players will see it too! This is a very important note: If you don't believe in your presentation, no one else will either!
So anyway, the PCs are ready to throw down with Remulak the evil druid. They see each other from across the meadow. I say: "Its a hot summer's day. As you step into the high grasses of the meadow it gets instantly cooler. Not cold, but cooler. There's a stillness to it as a faint breeze blows past you... you can feel the weight of the surrounding pines as they stand above you vigilant judging your every step. You feel there is something more to this place as you look across the clearing at Remulak, murderer of your kin!"
Alright this sounds pretty right? This is what it's like to capture hearts and minds. Though my prose may not be perfect, did you feel what I was saying with it? did you get a first impression of this meadow I've been going on about?
Alright some things to consider about this description. If I were with my average gaming group, this would be difficult at first to say. First off the name "Remulak" has to do with the coneheads on Staurday Night Live in the 70's. My players would be making jokes. Which would lead to "remember that one time in Buffy when my character fire to that vampire? Sanchez Sanchez is soo funny!" Then I would be like, "But it's a meadow! Remulak is there!" and i might get distracted and blow the presentation. If this happens to you, you have to work on your presence! Also if Ol' Remulak is a recurring villain who's a pretty good one, he wont be so funny (also if your players don't know about the Cone Heads either) and the jokes might have been made already... unless you are running the situation for laughs... which changes it. Be wary of your players keep focus! ;D
LAST NOTE:The watch word for presentation is IMPROVISE! The cool vision of the meadow you had not working out? Save the good stuff for another day, or change the setting to the mood of the group that night! I know it's hard, but as writers who are good at writing say: "Murder your darlings! Never be afraid to Murder your darlings!" Don't get stuck on one idea even if its the best you've ever come up with. If you have knowledge, presence, and confidence; your Players will never know!
See you on the flip side,
Chris Curran artist and game bastard.
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