Watching the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings movies reminded me again of how much of a feeling of "place" the movies give. Middle Earth feels very post-apocalyptic, ancient history-ee, un-trusting/suspicious, etc. The games I run tend to feel very bland in terms of setting, even when I use a setting that has cool elements. What techniques do you use to give your sessions a consistent feel of place?
When I'm prepping a session, I usually include about three "flavor" encounters that can be inserted anywhere in the night's events, pose no threat, usually involve no reward, and have nothing to do with the exploration or player-chosen activities.
Things like "A lost top hat rolling down the cobbled streets in the chill antiseptic wind blowing through Ludendorf" for a Ravenloft session for instance.
I also repeat quick snippets of flavor that have already been established when the opportunity arises. In my current campaign the PCs are based in a towering fantasy hotel with distinct architecture and waterfall fountains spilling down marble walls. At the start of each session I briefly repeat what it looks like as they move through it to find key NPCs or head out for under-street exploration.
It helps if you have a mental image of your setting, art, styles, and keep those in mind whenever you have a chance.
Another option can be flavoring or limiting classes/races/equipment in a way appropriate to your setting.
For example, I was on a D&D MUSH (sadly stillborn) set in mythic Egypt. So there were no crossbows, plate armor, and so on, and 'slinger' was a viable choice. And the Gods... worshipped gods were lawful, because Law was generally conflated with Good, and Chaos with Evil.
My world is heavily based on Kenneth Bulmer's Scorpio/Dray Prescot series, so a lot has to do with the setting elements.
There are two suns, so I refer to "sunsset" and "sunsrise." There are five moons, so characters planning nighttime forays need to consult an almanac for how much moonlight's expected. No lions, tigers or bears; they're zhantils and chavonths and boloths. Calsanys, zorcas and sleeths are the riding beasts, and there are kovs, vads and stroms, not dukes, earls or barons. And so on and so forth: it's a dense setting, and I've 35 years of practice of keeping IC, so to speak.
Quote from: Ravenswing;816705it's a dense setting, and I've 35 years of practice of keeping IC, so to speak.
I admire your focus. I really want to be your kind of DM, to fully explore a setting's potential over many years, but I just can't seem to fend off my new shiny syndrome long enough. I'm getting better, but it's not quite there yet.
Quote from: Shipyard Locked;816666When I'm prepping a session, I usually include about three "flavor" encounters that can be inserted anywhere in the night's events, pose no threat, usually involve no reward, and have nothing to do with the exploration or player-chosen activities.
Things like "A lost top hat rolling down the cobbled streets in the chill antiseptic wind blowing through Ludendorf" for a Ravenloft session for instance.
Nice!
I like to put in bits of local color, small details that don't really effect the scenario but tell a little something about the setting. Clothing, food, slang, the way the buildings and architecture look or insert bits of local history and events unobtrusively as possible
A lot of the flavor in a setting, to me at least, is a combination of feel and application. The feel comes in many ways from the way things are described. A city is a city, the difference comes in how you relay that to the players. Two different towns of around 10,000 people are functionally the same in a game world, they have shops, places to rest, find healing etc.
However they become very different when one is a gleaming city upon a hill, it's streets laid in neat rows, hard nosed watchmen patrolling round the clock as a steady stream of merchants find their way toward the market square but not before paying their dues to the cities Byzantine bureaucracy. Whilst the other is chaotic hodge podge of dingy hovels and hoary mansions remnants of glories past, where peasants labor for little while the wealthy surround themselves with technological baubles of the time before.
Getting the feel across to players is one area where being a storyteller helps. Learn to paint a picture in their heads when you describe something. It doesn't take much. It it a corridor that is 30 feet long that comes to a darkened opening at the end? Or is it a dim, drafty, alleyway that gives way to a blackness like a gaping maw?
Anytime I write up a locations I come up with a brief list of descriptors for it, typically single words or short phrases that remind of how I see it in my head. I try to include visual, auditory, and olfactory descriptions. I don't do detailed write ups for much so this list tends to be what I come back to when I am describing an area to players.
Functionally a lot of what we do in gaming is the same. Whether you are saving the princess from the tower, or rescuing the emissary of the Umbalan empire from space pirates there is little actual difference functionally. The difference is in the dressing.
As to how application effects feeling, look at typical "Old School" D&D. Or Fantasy Fucking Vietnam as it has been termed. The fact that the rules were very lethal at low levels and most of the games bestiary was overkill for level one players encouraged this feel. Everything is scary, being super cautious is the only way forward, the characters are likely to see some shit. Pick a rule set that encourages the feel you are looking for, the way a game handles damage is often a good indicator of how things in general are handled. This is why I'm not a fan of generic rule sets, they have to be a bit bland to work right and in the end tend to struggle to create much "feeling".
One point of failure I've seen is whether the GM and group are willing to limit character options. You can say you're running mythic China, Wheel of Time, or anything else, but if you're still throwing a universal game book open for character generation its hard to bring out the feel of the setting.
Conversely, one of the more successful games I played in, both at maintaining a setting and in general, was one where the GM's game pitch was "you're all Vikings, from the same village. Everyone's human, everyone's related. You work out how and let me know." And actually the game system had elves and orcs and magic, but it still worked as a Vikings game.
Other than that, color in descriptions helps a lot. But I try to keep in mind the two sentence rule. As someone at WotC found out looking at convention games, you get two sentences max of room/encounter/scene description before players start missing things or tuning out. So I try to limit my initial descriptions to one or two sentences, then wait and answer questions.
Quote from: Nexus;816713I like to put in bits of local color, small details that don't really effect the scenario but tell a little something about the setting. Clothing, food, slang, the way the buildings and architecture look or insert bits of local history and events unobtrusively as possible
This is something I notice that sets off some of my favorite GMs from the rest... it can really make the place feel alive... vs. the guys who, wherever you go, toss out the same five buildings with the same five inhabitants... steak and potatoes on every menu. Every town seeming to have an inn, a place to buy ANYTHING you need and sell EVERYTHING you pull out of the local ruins (there are ALWAYS local ruins!).
Quote from: Simlasa;816742This is something I notice that sets off some of my favorite GMs from the rest... it can really make the place feel alive... vs. the guys who, wherever you go, toss out the same five buildings with the same five inhabitants... steak and potatoes on every menu. Every town seeming to have an inn, a place to buy ANYTHING you need and sell EVERYTHING you pull out of the local ruins (there are ALWAYS local ruins!).
And doubly so when they pull out the same map for every building of the same sort, unless the setting
is some sort of weird fantasy suburbia of identical construction.
Evoking mood begins before you actually start the first session of the campaign. Perhaps you could use e-mail or facebook to announce a starting date for your game. Give the players a brief description of the setting. Ask them to hit "reply all" as they tell you what type of character they want to play. This builds can build anticipation and excitement. It also gives you an opportunity to work out a few important NPC or other details that might fit the characters into the setting in a smooth fashion.
For example: D&D 5e heroic fantasy, alignments tending toward good, starting with 3rd level characters. Although an open campaign, in the first few sessions roughly half the time will be spent in the underdark and half the time in the surface world. Although small lakes and rivers exist, there is no concept of an ocean. All races and classes can be played except for dragon born. Dwarves and humans are the most common races. Gnomes are tinkers and many of their inventions have a steam-punk flavor. For example, dirigibles are an uncommon method of transport.
Then make your opening scene count . . . or if you already started the campaign, then try to end the next session at a place where, after a brief recap you can really strike the tone when you start next week.
Prepare important plot points or scene elements. Give good descriptions, but don't linger or pause too often. You'll know you're getting it when the players have that lost in thought gaze as they process what you are saying. Don't spend too much time with your scene descriptions. A good description can backfire if it goes on too long.
I used something like this as my opening session for a D&D game two years ago:
A caravan was on route from the underground dwarven city of Stone Hollow to the surface city of Wintermist, the city where you are currently residing. The clerics of the light god, Pholtus, have charged you with investigating and ensuring that a sacred golden decanter traveling on that caravan is recovered.
You traveled the main underground highway, tracked and killed human bandits that destroyed the caravan, recovered the decanter, and are returning to the surface world a half mile from Wintermist.
As you climb the passage and emerge, the sky seems darker than you would expect. Smells of wood smoke and the din of thunder are growing stronger as you rise out the tunnel. You can see that the sky is streaked with crimson and grey and the sounds of battle can now be heard. Looking to the west, the walled city of Wintermist is under siege. Several hundred goblins and ogres skirmish with humans in front of the city wall. A half mile from you a blue scaled dragon soars through the sky, breathing lightning into a large airship. The dirigible explodes with a crash of thunder, plummets quickly and smashes into dozens of soldiers fighting on the ground. Four other dragons can be seen elsewhere in the sky. A long figure on top of a wall launches fire at one dragon, but is picked up by the swooping beast's talons and hurled high into the air. A dozen goblins can be seen moving toward the hill where you watch in amazement as the tranquil crossroads city of Wintermist is being destroyed.
What do you do?
Quote from: Vic99;816762What do you do?
I invent a teleporter so I can come out to MA and join your game. :D
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