By Gareth Hodges

The Aaargh factor

Technically, a bureaucracy is designed to help a government or large group deliver services in a timely, efficient and effective manner. Traditionally however, they are viewed as mockeries that frustrate, delay and ultimately fail to produce results. The first step in creating a bureaucratic system for your gaming world is what I term the “Aaargh!” factor…if you’ve ever stood in line at lunchtime in a government office, you’ll know what I mean. In game terms, how well do you want the system to actually do what it is “designed” to do?

In a roleplaying game, especially futuristic ones, it is possible to create a system with little or no Aaargh. Instantaneous communication, automated systems and well trained, well placed and friendly staff or efficient AIs could mean that your waiting time is negligible. This doesn’t lead to very much opportunity unless it goes wrong, in which case it can rocket up the Aaargh scale and lead to all sorts of fun.

Moderate Aaargh is probably what people encounter in their daily lives in developed nations. Not every person is appropriate for their job, not all the rules make sense to the people enforcing them, there is either too much or too little redundancy in the system, blurry lines of responsibility, low accountability for individuals, and a less than adequate consumer focus. Somehow, things still get done, they may not be perfect, but it’s still a step forward.

High Aaargh can be bewildering, complex and downright infuriating. Perhaps you have to bribe your way through each level of authority to get things done…the concept of “baksheesh” (or socially accepted palm-greasing) is still in force in Turkey today. People who work in the system might look out for themselves, do the least work possible, and not care about results. The legislation they work with could be highly misinterpret able, contradictory or out-of-date (such as inIndia, which had the most complex and bewildering legal system ever known). Things can happen without people knowing why; blunders can change or even end lives and none of makes any sense to anyone…

This can be a lot of fun to role-play through; if your PCs are prepared for a lot of frustration…they didn’t have a Dragon Slaying License? “Section 354 (f) of the Greater Reptile, Snake and Associated Large Scale Cold-Blooded Organisms Act of 1376 clearly states…”

Headless, Hydraic or Cyclopic Bureaucracies

This way of looking at an organizational structure can give you lots of ideas for campaign background and story hooks.

The Headless bureaucracy

The Headless bureaucracy goes nicely with high Aaargh…no-one knows who is ultimately in charge because the lines of communication are so tangled. Orders come in and are followed just because that’s what happens, and the results are no-ones fault because there is nowhere to point the finger. A version of this is the Decapitated bureaucracy…a formerly ordered system which has failed for some reason, and now procedures are followed out of habit.

The Hydraic bureaucracy

The Hydraic bureaucracy is what most of us are familiar with…there are a lot of heads waving around, responsible for different things. They can get tangled, but there are several defined points of authority that are ultimately responsible. They can do a lot of different things at once, and if they all pull together they are a force to be reckoned with…more often they’ll be pulling in opposite directions, which creates the tension you can use in games.

Perhaps one group of the system is doing something that overlaps/impinges on/contradicts another’s area of responsibility and the PCs are sent in to find out what is going on…be prepared for a lot of hard-talking! Typical example is in the jurisdictional disputes we see in law enforcement. To use the American example, having “The Feds” called in to take over an investigation can lead to a lot of story hooks.

The Cyclopic Bureaucracy

The Cyclopic bureaucracy is one that has a single vision, a single purpose, and is going to get there, regardless… Dictatorships, or other bodies with a single individual or group at the helm can come under this category, if the whole bureaucracy is geared toward a specific outcome…i.e. placing an economy on a war footing changes every level of governance relating to the economy.

In a highly religious system, the whole flavor of it, and all the laws, guidelines and codes can be oriented toward furthering or promoting the religion. For a good modern example, just read a bit about the Taliban inAfghanistan.

Bureaucracies can also be Chameleons…they may look Headless, Hydraic or Cyclopic, but are they really? Only those behind the scenes can tell you.

“How can I help you?” or “How do the PCs interact with the bureaucracy?

The most important aspect to consider is the interaction with the game. You don’t need to detail all the areas of a monolithic bureaucracy if the party will rarely encounter it. Are there offices in every major population centre for people to make inquiries, get relevant documents and complain? Are their traveling “auditors”, inspectors or enforcers of the rules of the bureaucracy? Is the blacksmiths shop your PC just opened going to get a visit from the local Smithing Guild inspectors, or do they just apply for a permit? What standards are expected when dealing with the bureaucracy and what would they ignore? How far can you step over the line before you are warned, closed down or charged?

When a PC needs something official attended to, how long will it take? How many hands does it pass through to get where it needs to, and how many of those people actually know what they’re doing? Do the PCs just walk into an office and speak to an attendant at a counter, or do they need to petition to see a hard-to-reach official?

Rather than the old bar brawl, maybe the group meets in a stifling waiting room at the local government offices, or a long line of weary applicants for a certain permit.

Also remember that PC’s may not be able to circumvent certain levels of bureaucracy…how difficult would it be for you or me to get to see the President of theUSA, the Queen of England or the Pope? Besides, the real power may not rest with the obvious head anyway.

All of these issues, of course, require people to interact with. A single chain of command in an organization can provide a huge variety of NPC’s for the group to deal with, and they don’t have to be cardboard clones. If you work in an office, you have a whole range of personalities that you already know well just waiting to be used!

Red Tape

Why not present the PCs with a form or three to be filled out…applications for gun licenses, hunting licenses, border passes and passports, car registration, certification as a professional in their field, birth, marriage and death certificates, and so on…if you have the right form you can make the most mundane thing an exploration of bureaucracy…and if your PCs haven’t filled in the right forms, then they could be in a lot of trouble…see what happens when you are caught with an unregistered semi-automatic in Australia.

Then there are the positives; letters of Marque, Citations, Awards of Achievement and the range of other accolades officials can shower on you. Have the PCs done some civic-minded things? Have the Mayor hold a celebration in their honor. Bureaucrats and politicians are notorious for their interest in public ceremony. And what can you do with the keys to the city?

In essence, if it needs a signature, stamp or seal, it can be a plot hook. What happens when the local Merchant Guild master has his official seal stolen?? How grateful would he be to get it back? And what kind of mess can that seal cause in the wrong hands?

Making the World Go Round

Ultimately, your bureaucracy will at least be paying lip service to achieving something. The more people are involved in creating a bureaucracy, the more you have the opportunity for plot ideas as the system tries or fail to deliver. Anything from an overworked, overstressed official hiring the group to ensure his confidential documents reach the head office, to carrying out some bizarre and cryptic order handed down from on high, to traveling around troubleshooting various problems within the organization, to hostage negotiation when a maddened worker goes “postal”. From the outside, a bureaucracy can make your PCs lives hell, or grease their way to easy street, if they learn how to deal with it.

We all interact with bureaucracy at some point in our lives…look around you, make a few adjustments, and you have the basis for a fun, challenging and different game.

From Michael Garcia

Michael recently put these random events tables together with help from the GM Mastery Yahoo! Group. Thanks for letting me put them in RPT Michael!

d100 Spring Current Events

01-12 Nothing

13 Alliance Offer

14 Ancient Ruin Discovered

15-20 Banditry

21-25 Border Dispute

26-30 Bumper Crop

31 Charlatan

32-34 Clashes At Sea

35 Corruption Discovered

36 Crop Blight

37 Earthquake

38 Enemy Leader Rises

39 Extreme Manpower Shortage

40 Fire

41-49 Flood

50 Foreign Emissary

51 Founding Of An Order

52 Guild War

53 Heresy

54 Holy Man Emerges

55-56 Hunnar Raids

57-58 Important Birth

59-60 Important Marriage

61 Inactive War

62 Inflation

63 Inspiring Artist

64-65 Livestock Rustlers

66-69 Manpower Shortage

70 Meteorite Strike

71 Mysterious Beast

72 New Artistic Movement

73 New Resource Discovered

74 Organized Crime

75 Peasant Rebellion

76-80 Pirate Raids

81-84 Plague

85 Protest

86-88 Refugees

89 Shocking Crime

90 Signs In The Sky

91-93 Storm At Sea

94 Tornado

95 Treasure Found

96 Tribute

97 Unauthorized Conscription

98 Unexpected Guests

99 Volcano Erupts

100 Witch Hunt

d100 Summer Current Events

01-10 Nothing

11 Alliance Offer

12 Ancient Ruin Discovered

13-20 Banditry

21-28 Border Dispute

29 Charlatan

30-32 Clashes At Sea

33 Corruption Discovered

34 Crop Blight

35-39 Drought

40 Earthquake

41 Enemy Leader Rises

42 Fire

43-49 Flood

50 Foreign Emissary

51 Founding Of An Order

52 Guild War

53 Heresy

54 Holy Man Emerges

55-56 Hunnar Raids

57-58 Important Birth

59-60 Important Marriage

61 Inactive War

62 Inflation

63 Inspiring Artist

64-67 Livestock Rustlers

68 Meteorite Strike

69 Mysterious Beast

70 New Artistic Movement

71-72 New Resource Discovered

73 Organized Crime

74 Peasant Rebellion

75-77 Pirate Raids

78-84 Plague

85 Protest

86-88 Refugees

89 Shocking Crime

90 Signs In The Sky

91-92 Storm At Sea

93 Tornado

94 Treasure Found

95 Tribute

96-97 Unauthorized Conscription

98 Unexpected Guests

99 Volcano Erupts

100 Witch Hunt

d100 Autumn Current Events

01-18 Nothing

19 Alliance Offer

20 Ancient Ruin Discovered

21-24 Baby Boom

25-29 Banditry

30 Border Dispute

31-34 Bumper Crop

35 Charlatan

36-40 Clashes At Sea

41 Corruption Discovered

42 Crop Blight

43 Earthquake

45 Enemy Leader Rises

46 Extreme Manpower Shortage

47-49 Fire

50 Foreign Emissary

51 Founding Of An Order

52 Guild War

53 Heresy

54 Holy Man Emerges

55-56 Hunnar Raids

57-58 Important Birth

59-60 Important Marriage

61 Inactive War

62 Inflation

63 Inspiring Artist

64-65 Livestock Rustlers

66-71 Manpower Shortage

72 Meteorite Strike

73 Mysterious Beast

74 New Artistic Movement

75-78 New Resource Discovered

79 Organized Crime

80 Peasant Rebellion

81-88 Pirate Raids

89 Plague

90 Protest

91 Refugees

92 Shocking Crime

93 Signs In The Sky

94-95 Storm At Sea

96 Treasure Found

97 Tribute

98 Unexpected Guests

99 Volcano Erupts

100 Witch Hunt

d100 Winter Current Events

01-20 Nothing

21 Alliance Offer

22-27 Avalanche

28-31 Banditry

32-36 Blizzard

37 Border Dispute

38-45 Brutal Winter

46 Charlatan

47 Clashes At Sea

48 Corruption Discovered

49 Earthquake

50 Enemy Leader Rises

51-58 Fire

59 Foreign Emissary

60 Founding Of An Order

61 Guild War

62 Heresy

63 Holy Man Emerges

64-68 Hunnar Raids

69-74 Ice Clan Raids

75-77 Important Birth

78 Inactive War

79 Inflation

80 Inspiring Artist

81-83 Manpower Shortage

84 Meteorite Strike

85-87 Mysterious Beast

88 New Artistic Movement

89 New Resource Discovered

90 Organized Crime

91-93 Protest

94 Refugees

95 Shocking Crime

96 Signs In The Sky

97 Storm At Sea

98 Tribute

99 Unexpected Guests

100 Volcano Erupts

By Ralf Kruytzer

This article deals with the questions, Why are there weapon permits in my Fantasy Medieval World? Why are there restrictions on wearing weapons?

How the heck did our DM got that goofy idea? (As some players might ask themselves). This article tries to help the DM (or GM) to sell such an idea to his or her players when the world they live in with is plagued with monsters like orcs, gnolls, ankegs, gorgons and wyverns (if you are familiar with 2nd edition Monstrous Manual from TSR).

What do you do when the PC’s don’t go with the system? If you put them in prison when their only crime is not having a piece of paper, some PC’s will move on to the next city or village until they find a place without those stupid rules. Hopefully this article gives you enough reasons and background information to convince your players your stupid “Permit Rule” isn’t that stupid after all.

Before I start I want to explain some of the abbreviations used in the text below:

• RMW – Real Medieval World, referring to medieval and feudal England.
• FMW – Fantasy Medieval World, referring to a made-up setting (e.g., Forgotten Realms).

In July 2002, I started to exchange thoughts with Dr. Erin D. Smale. The first subject of our correspondence was about medieval world views vs. fantasy settings. The both of us are quite fanatic D&D gamers. This article is not written to say how things should be done; it’s merely describing a way things could be done. Every DM is free to use this article as he or she seems fit. Each of us agrees upon the fact that in both the RMW and the FMW, the population can be divided into four categories:

• 1. Those who work;
• 2. Those who fight;
• 3. Those who rule;
• 4. Those who pray.

Those who work can be roughly divided into three sub-categories:

• 1. The farmers (better known as peasants or serfs);
• 2. The craftsmen;
• 3. The freemen or yeomen.

Those who work in the RMW are bound to an area. The reason for this lies with the medieval feudal system. One of characteristics of the feudal system is that one exchanges ownership of land for protection provided by his feudal superior. Therefore, most farmers (both peasant and serf) were bound to the lands of the feudal lord. The craftsmen normally are bound to a county or – most likely – a town or city. Those in this category are mostly an anonymous flock of NPC’s. Normally, those who fight are in the RMW are allied with a ruler (i.e., a feudal lord) or have pledged loyalty to one. These are typical guards and soldiers and, generally, no threat to a ruler. The problem for either the villagers or citizens (most of whom belonging to the “those who work” category) and the appointed ruler of the settlement starts when a group of armed individuals approach the gates. Regardless of whether they are mercenaries, adventurers, monsters, invading soldiers, etc., from the settlement’s point of view these individuals can be classified as potential enemies.

There are two very important things about the group I’ve just described:
1. They are in front of your settlement;
2. They carry weapons.

Let’s take a closer look at the second aspect: they carry weapons. In parts of the RMW, the majority of people didn’t have much in the way of personal arms. This was for a few reasons:

• First, weapons were expensive, and most of the common folk couldn’t afford to arm themselves.
• Second, to be good at weapon use, one had to train, and there was little time for that when one had to farm, herd, shear, craft, or whatever to make a living.
• Third, local lords (and their superiors, all the way up to the king) didn’t really like the idea of armed peasants that could revolt.

Therefore weapon ownership was granted to those whose loyalty was relatively unquestioned. In this vein, fighting was reserved for soldiers who could be coerced, cajoled, bought, or inspired. Land granted to a knight helped to keep his loyalty. Mercenaries were loyal to the coin they were paid. Regular troops were fed, clothed, supplied, and salaried. Fourth, the right to bear arms was granted as a means to enforce the lord’s law. Peasants, being the subject to such laws, had little say in the matter, and weapons were right out.

Generally speaking it is safe to assume that in the FMW one possesses (simple) arms, knowledge of how to use them, and one travels among groups for mutual protection. Traveling from Point A to Point B in a FMW is not just a journey; it is seriously dangerous expedition. In the RMW you might have some robbers in the area, but in the FMW some truly nasty critters – goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, gnolls, and kobolds – inhabit parts of the realm. One doesn’t want to encounter any of these creatures, day or night, without knowing how to wield at least a simple weapon (e.g., a quarterstaff or a club) or being in the company of a group who does. In this respect, the unarmed citizens -including farmers – rely mostly on authorized guards and soldiers for protection from harm, both in the RMW as in the FMW.

Let’s get back to the original situation: A group of armed individuals is about to start “knock, knock, knocking” on your settlement’s gate. Who are they? What do they want? They’re carrying arms, but they’re neither the guards nor the Lord’s men. Are they going to cause trouble? Will someone get hurt? What will the local authorities do to ensure safety? All these thoughts will be going to the unarmed citizens’ head. If these armed folk enter the settlement, there will three major groups inside it:

• 1. The (unarmed) citizens;
• 2. The (armed) guards and soldiers under the authorized control of a feudal superior;
• 3. The (armed) mercenaries and adventurers who are under no authorized control whatsoever.

Categories one and two are of no threat to an organized and lawful society. Category three, however, is a possible threat to anyone within categories one and two. Put another way, those in category one relies on category two to protect them from category three. Given that the core of any settlement is probably category one, we can conclude that the presence of category three legitimizes the existence of category two. This also implies a precedent for settlement taxation, as citizens are willing to pay local authorities for this protection.

When outside forces threaten the settlement (e.g., orcs, gnolls, ankegs, gorgons, and wyverns) they need to be dispatched. Who does the dispatching? The people with the weapons: town guards, city watchmen, local militia, adventurers.

Ironically, the adventurers, who probably have more muscle than local authorities, are the only group of these four where good intentions and loyalty are uncertain. Add to this that the adventurers don’t receive a cut of the tax money that pays for the guards, watchmen, and militia. The only ‘cut’ they receive might be a fee for their services.

As a result, some precautionary steps are taken. First, visitors are stopped at the gate and asked what their business is. If the guards are satisfied, passes are issued to the visitors, indicating lawful entry (i.e., the local authorities have granted permission to the visitors to be within the city walls). If the visitors are carrying weapons, they’re required to register them.

Now, understand that this does not prevent the weapon from being used. But it can be a deterrent. The concept is not dissimilar to some handgun laws in the United States. If you want to carry a handgun, you need a permit. What’s in it for you? The right to carry a firearm legally. That’s it. Why is this good? Because if you’re caught with a handgun and don’t have a permit, authorities assume that you’re up to no good and charge you with a criminal act. Then you’re in trouble.

The same is applicable to the FMW: a weapon permit is a legal license to go about armed within the city limits. But that’s the extent of the permit’s license. This means that a permit allows adventurers carry weapons about town, but it does not, by any stretch, imply that they those same adventurers are permitted use those weapons within the town. More than anything else, a permit is a sign of willingness to operate on good faith within the town. Having taken the trouble to get a permit goes a long way in demonstrating, at least, that you’re not hiding something. It tells the rest of the town that you’re willing to play by the local rules.

Sure, some players will start complaining about being restricted, but you as DM have to remember that there are at least two sides at every story. In this case the PC’s vs. the town. The idea of weapon permits was even applied in the Wild West. If you watch the movie of Wyatt Earp (featuring Kevin Costner, 1994), you’ll see how Earp, a law officer, attempted to protect settlements by enforcing the rule that there be no firearms allowed within the city limits. Guns were handed in upon entry and returned to the owner when he left town.

A PC might register his long sword but keep a dagger in his boot. It happens, and it’s not unreasonable. Even if a PC does this, there is no man overboard. The PC just needs to be aware that he’s broken the law and consequences will follow if he or she gets caught. Same for whole group – if they don’t want to register anything at all, they’ll probably be barred from entry and subsequently arrested if found within city limits. Just because their only crime is not having a piece of paper doesn’t mean that the crime isn’t serious to the local authorities – the same local authorities who’ve never seen this visitor before, who don’t know what his intentions are, who are pledged to keep the peace, who are responsible for local protection, and who are charged with punishing criminals.

Another side of the story is that of the Lord vs. the adventurers. In the RMW, the difference in fighting skills between an outlaw and a guard rarely favored the outlaw. In the FMW, the PCs soon reach much higher levels that the local militia just won’t achieve, and therefore the PC’s have more hit points, a better chance to hit, etc. The Lord might have introduced a weapon permit law just to give his men a chance against the better trained adventurers. An unarmed (and possibly unarmored) fighter of 5th-level is in serious trouble when facing a dozen or even a half-dozen city guardsmen with swords and halberds. From the ruler’s point of view, divesting PCs of their arms, or at least restricting their ability to engage in combat within city limits, is simply a smart way to help keep the peace. After all, if the PCs have good intentions, they won’t be bothered by such laws; if they have a desire to cause trouble, though, the lack of weapons and armor is a helpful deterrent. At the very least, characters who balk at such restrictions will cause some alarm and raise suspicions amongst the authorities (“If that visitor has no bad intentions – as he told me – why does he still wear his armor and why is he so obsessed with keeping his arms with him?”).

Earlier, I wrote that the guards issue passes, indicating that visitors have lawfully entered town and weapons are registered. Of course, some wily PCs will spend their entire time in a city telling the guards that they are just on their way to register the weapon. To prevent this, gate guards might peace-bond weapons with cord and wax upon entry into town (this is done the Kingdom of Cormyr, described in the Forgotten Realms box set). Peace-bonding means that a piece of cordage is wrapped around the sword’s hilt where it meets the scabbard; these are tied together with a knot, which is then wax-sealed. With one or two jerks, one can tug the sword out of the scabbard, but the knot is untied and the seal is broken. Each time the PCs are encountered in a settlement without peace-bonded weapons or a broken wax-seal, they’ll have to explain to the questioners why this is the case (in the Cormyr description, there is a rule stating that an inhabitant of Cormyr had to confirm the PC’s story; i.e., there had to be a local witness so the PCs couldn’t lie their way out of it having broken the peace-bonds).

While this may seem restrictive to the PCs, the peace-bonding of weapons is done to ensure the safety of the settlement. It is a way for the settlement to “control” (as in damage control) those with arms but under no control from a rulership. It’s a rule to make the citizens feel more at ease. Both Erin and I think that it’s not a rare thing in both the FMW and the RMW that adventurers are viewed with suspicion and therefore represent possible threats to both local authorities and citizens. The problem stays the same: the adventurer’s loyalty is unknown and he’s armed. Given the odd niche occupied by adventurers, one might ask how adventurers fit in to the grand scheme?

In a nutshell, they don’t. At least not in the historical sense. Most freemen in the RMW were craftsmen, merchants, etc. who consequently did not need to arm themselves. Reasons: they practiced their crafts or sold their wares in settled areas where a town watch or city guard was employed to ensure safety. In a worst case scenario they could always fall back on the power of their Guild to offer protection. Secondly, a craftsman needs to learn his craft, and swinging a sword in the practice yard took time, money, and effort away from his trade.

Most characters in the campaign would be considered freemen, too. But they are freemen in a class of their own. Adventurers lack the protections enjoyed by the craftsmen, merchants, and common citizens of any given settlement. They’re not craftsmen, so they have no guild protection. They’re not bonded, and without owing anyone a feudal obligation, they can expect no feudal protections. Most adventurers are not members of the noble class, so the protections typically provided to rulers do not apply. Finally, adventurers, by definition, are itinerant, so they lack the protection of a safe and comforting settlement. In all, most denizens of the FMW would be wise to view adventurers as outlaws who haven’t necessarily done anything wrong… yet.

Maybe there are places within the county / kingdom that don’t require permits, peace-bonding, or passes. If so, such locales have reputations as dangerous and lawless places. This could be the case especially if it’s the only settlement in the region where such laws are relaxed. For example, consider the Nordic settlement featured in the movie The Thirteenth Warrior. This village was a farming community, sure, but everyone within was capable of taking up arms to participate in the common defense against the quite regular attacks from a group of barbarians. No peace-bonding or weapon permits to be found, but who would the characters want to live in a place that, every morning, runs the risk of being nothing more than a smoldering pincushion?

Any rule regarding weapon permits should not be used, in our opinion, as an effort to bilk the PCs out of some cash in a campaign, or to annoy them with needling details, or even to render them particular vulnerable. Instead, the rule should manifest as yet another law of the campaign setting, to be followed or ignored at the PCs’ leisure. If its use makes sense amid a dangerous world of monsters, illusions, and evil beings, then assume as a DM that civilized settlements and the authorities who run them would enforce such restrictions, just to make life a little safer.

A last piece of advice: introduce this rule as early as possible in you campaign, the earlier the better. If you are playing with a group for awhile, but never applied this rule to previous campaigns, BE CAREFUL!!! It’s likely that your players will whine and complain that their freedom has been reduced. If this happens, decide for yourself if they’re questioning your judgment to introduce this rule because of its effect on the campaign, or because they think they’re being treated unfairly. If it’s the latter, then maybe it isn’t their style of play. If it’s the former, then you and the players should discuss what sort of campaign you want to run. In both cases it’s important to reach a consensus in which both the DM and the Players agree about the campaign’s direction, and if people aren’t having fun, they’re missing the point of the game.

Details game worlds - how do you track all the details?

We pick up where we left off in RPT#526, with more tips from readers about how to develop and manage game world details.

A reader named Beleaguered in South Africa asked for help managing the details of his extensive game world. Here’s how GMs responded:

From Blair Giles

I recently started a new 4e D&D campaign where I wanted to begin relatively small. I gave the players a tour of the initial kingdom, and am slowly expanding them out across the world.

My website is a nice and easy way to store all the information that is available to players.

http://azentia.wikidot.com/

As DM, I have started using the Microsoft Onenote program to store all my information. I find it easy to link between pages, essentially creating hyperlinks between various pages or tabs.

I’ve not gone to the lengths of future planning that you have, with most of my future planning only going from a few months up to a year in advance of the current campaign. However, I do believe there are a couple of important standards.

1) Where the players should be the focus of the world

The further away anything is from them, the less detailed you need to be.

This allows you to keep fewer notes. You can fill these out further if the PCs move closer.

2) Everyone does everything for a reason

While the PCs only need to know that Kingdom Y assassinated the King of X, as the DM you should know the King ordered the assassination to destabilize Kingdom X, as there is no heir apparent there.

3) Write notes in the way the PCs might hear it

Rumors overheard in a tavern or market, letters written from one lord to another, news from a merchant hiring the PCs to guard a caravan.

In this way, you can also introduce red herrings and inaccuracies, if you are familiar with the concept of Chinese Whispers.

[Comment from Johnn: great tip! I can see how writing notes the way the PCs might hear them saves a busy GM a lot of time. You get detail creation, relevance to PCs and potential read-aloud text all in one swoop. Nice.]

4) Sew seeds and information early

Don’t be afraid to start introducing some of these items, even when they aren’t in any way relevant to the PCs’ current quest.

That will definitely add to the players’ impression the world is moving without their intervention. It will also lay down the foundation for players to choose which quests they take on, without feeling like you’re railroading them. (Just make sure you read the tip on Chekhov’s Gun. Don’t introduce anything into the campaign if the players can’t interact with it in the future.)

From Gerald

I have a couple of ideas as to how you can manage the living and breathing aspect of a campaign world.

The first one depends on how many gamer friends you have who aren’t in your campaign. If you have enough – delegate! Get some friends to take on the roles of your primary NPCs. Give them the situation they are in and the resources they have, and ask them what they would do.

Evaluate those choices, and make a ruling as to their success, then update their situation. I would request one submission for each of your planned gaming sessions and they have as much in-game time as the PCs used.

The other option is to think of the NPCs as being characters in a turn-based game. You’ll probably want to use a spreadsheet program or something of that nature to track the events and NPCs.

Create a new row for each NPC. Each column will be one turn, which is the equivalent of one gaming session with your group (so a turn could be a month in-game or two hours).

After each session, run through your spreadsheet and determine what the goals of the NPCs are and what they are going to do to achieve it. After the first week, you’ll start the process by evaluating what happened to the goals set the week before, which will be dependent on how much in-game time has passed and what the PCs did.

You might also throw in an NPC named Natural Events, and use a random table to generate things like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

From Keith Davies

I find a wiki works well for tracking things like this, including links between entities. My campaign setting and scenario design techniques articles describe how I do this.

http://www.kjd-imc.org/category/series/campaign-setting-design/

It’s pretty easy to track the links between entities and map out various events that may influence them. If the Ss’thar attack the Kreshtar (again), who gets pulled into the conflict? If the leader of the Kreshtar tribe is killed, what might happen (his heir was killed the last time, his bastard isn’t considered remotely suitable for the position)?

For time-driven events, other entries may be included along with timeline related tags. When spring of the Year of Unending Storms comes around, what do you have planned to happen? You don’t necessarily need to log each season this way (though it’s a thought). It might be enough to have a tag for it much as Wikipedia does for specific dates; attach the tag to the relevant entities and look them up when needed.

I’ve also got a campaign started (but idle) at Obsidian Portal where I’ve described the Kreshtar Tribes. Very summarized (and there is some further detail marked ‘GM only’) but enough to design from.
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/many-kingdoms/wikis/kreshtar-tribes

From Rob Corrina

Dear Beleaguered,

1. Surprise Is The Enemy

Some GM’s will tell you that surprise is their stock-in-trade. However, a philosopher like yourself need not stoop to such a gimmick.

Allow me to elaborate. You know more about the game world than could fit into a lecture, and more than would be practical to type, print and hand out to the players. So, how can you proceed?

Begin with player interviews. Ask them, if their character was in a book or movie, what type of story would it be? It might seem odd to start this way, but the only way to orient the players as your information partners is to set up this type of exchange. If they think you are telling them something because it relates to their character, they will listen and remember

No matter how outrageous or mediocre their expectations or ideas are, respond using your vast world knowledge of how they could achieve the story in the game world. Do not restrict your conversation in these meetings with any notions of GM vs. player vs. character knowledge.

Later, during game sessions, the player will be inclined to react, remind, identify, track and record data points they feel are most relevant to them, freeing you as the GM to represent the world and its characters.

2. Know The Rules Of The World

Details such as calendars and maps, as you pointed out, are ultimately one-dimensional.

Rules, on the other hand, have a great deal of potential. For example, knowing that the agrarian city of Ku-Man has an active Guild of Herdsman is a detail. When the players come back from the cyclops cave with sheep to sell (instead of treasure) and they are suddenly asked if they are good-standing members of the guild is a rule of the world.

2a. Don’t Act: React

A wonderful thing happens when you know the details of the world and its rules. Your personality is taken out of the equation. No longer is anything you do or say as a GM influenced by ego or aesthetics. You are simply the vessel of cause and effect.

3. Relationships

Unlike most aspects of the campaign, relationships can be arbitrarily defined by the GM as early as the pre-game planning stages. I usually assign an underdog as the patron of the party members, such as the youngest son of a noble family.

Simply insert this patron into their backstories. A few words about how he was there, at the risk of his reputation, to help the character when no one else would is usually enough to engage the players in the world. The other side of that coin is that the players are the young nobleman’s only chance of realizing his own hopes and dreams.

Much like a story on the news, it is very different if you know someone who lives there. With a relationship, the players now feel they know they know someone who lives there. And in such a way, the details come to life.

The arbitrary nature of this relationship can also be called upon during the campaign: “You are all in disguise as Shuck-Dul Raiders crossing the border of Aevenskull under the cover of night.”Is a fine way to start a session, even if that is not where the last session left off, provided the mission is for the young nobleman. And since you are not trying to surprise the players, you hinted several times they might need to sneak into Aevenskull.

Do you see? When the all the details of the world are crisp and certain so must the objectives of the players be. Only when the world is an ambiguous sketch is there an option to make the players’ inclinations and whims drive the narrative (or what exists where a narrative is supposed to be).

4. Protect What You Have Built (Player Psychology)

Now that you have started to bring the world to life with rules and relationships, you are going to have to protect your investments. For example, if the players leave town on an expedition their young patron is not to be murdered, kidnapped or replaced-with-a-doppelganger. I blame some bad T.V. and movie scripts, as well as 1970′s gaming, for putting these self-destructive notions in people’s heads.

Why, though. Why not swat the young nobleman while the players are out? Indeed, why not have him assassinated right in front of them!? That would be dramatic, wouldn’t it? After all, it is a violent world and what a swell way to illustrate that than to destroy the players’ primary conduit to that world.

Because, it is not an NPC you are destroying, it is your entire campaign. The patron character is a symbol of trust between the GM and the players and, as such, must be respected. You have only just begun to build the players’ confidence and interest. Even the most reticent among them are stepping out of their comfort zone to roleplay a little bit. Do not slam the door in their faces.

If you do, some players will never show up again. They won’t even know why, just that they gave something a try but it didn’t work out. Some of those that do stay will stab everyone and everything you put in their path. Why not? You cannot trust anyone or anything in the game world, starting with the GM.

That being said, many things happen to the young nobleman. He gets a letter warning him of a conspiracy against the city. He falls in love but does not have the money, stature or unique dowry items required to win the father’s approval. He is appointed treasurer of a guild that is about to go bankrupt. His haughty, well-to-do uncle (who the players know to be a villain) goes missing and they later find him dead. There are political, martial and romantic demands that he cannot navigate on his own. There is intrigue which sounds too dangerous. But the players will always be there, more or less at the right time. Because they have to be.

I know this all sounds awfully specific. But there doesn’t have to be a young patron. Anything that becomes a psychological anchor for the players is no longer a data-point or a detail. It is home and family to the player characters.

It could be a sanctuary or a base or a herd of animals or a vehicle. Many circumstances involving this anchor can and do happen. But it must never truly be threatened unless the players are present and in a powerful position to judiciously punish the perpetrator.

Bad things happen too. People and places are destroyed. Just not the one person or place the player characters depend on.

You may have to go as far as to specify what is and what is not safe as if you were explaining the mechanics of a board game.

5. All Together Now

Generations ago a noble would bring back a sand-colored mare from beyond the southern desert as a wedding gift for his bride to be. (detail) Currently this tradition lives only as commerce. (rule) There is a certain horse breeder who specializes in gift mares. (detail)

To help their patron win over his future-in-laws the players decide to invoke the old rites and take the actual journey beyond the southern desert and bring back an actual mare. (player initiative/ rule-breaking)

The GM guarantees he will not employ the clock against them. In other words, if they go south, get the horse and return they will be on time instead of ‘too late’. (secrets are bad)

6. The GM Emerges

The best source material in the world is only prep for the big show. Tabletop role-playing is not a solitary act, and there is nothing quite like bringing a world to players live. Just remember, you will learn more, and faster, from mistakes.

From Jane Sill

I have recently encountered the same issue of keeping track of an entire world. I have taken my cues from some study techniques I used in college. I have a 3 ring binder with dividers. Each page is a quick reference for the GM.

Nations And Politics

I have one section for nations and their politics. It has a brief description of a given city or nation’s politics. For example, do they have a prejudice against elves, or maybe there is unresolved turmoil from a big monster, warring factions, wizards experiment gone wrong, and so on.

The information should not exceed one page front and back, and should make note of a given population by race and profession. For example, 75% human 10% elf; 65% commoners, 10% experts 12% military.

It makes random city encounters easy to roll at a moment’s notice. It is also the page to make a note on notable characters, history and adventure hooks.

This section will also have a page for notable wilderness areas such as a haunted forest or the mountain region the giants inhabit.

NPCs

A second section should be made for NPC stats. It is nice to have a quick reference for each NPC the PCs fight, do businesses with, or any other reason they might interact with them.

I have a section for random encounter tables I use often, and ones I have made for specific areas. It helps speed the game along.

Maps

I have a section for maps. Some are for the PCs and some are for the GM only.

Quests

Two other sections that might be useful:

• Active quests to keep tabs on given clues and goals
• Battles fought (helps to keep track of xp gained in dungeons that last over several games)

You can add sections as you need.

Do not to fill in every detail. It is a quick reference for the GM, not an expanded history. If you need more than a page or two of information, maybe a separate notebook on the topic can help.

While adding more depth enhances the game, it adds to a GM’s workload as well. I really enjoy the stories I weave, but I have killed a campaign trying to get ALL the information down.

Just focus on a good outline and let the PCs do the rest.

Details game worlds - how do you track all the details?

In RPT#524, a gamer called Beleaguered in South Africa asked for help managing the massive amount of details he has developed for his world.

While he was looking for tips on a knowledge management and software and process solutions, I received lots of great advice on managing worlds in general. In today’s issue, we look at a few of those tips to hopefully help you with your own game worlds.

1. From Trevor D.

Wow. That is a great world that has been crafted so far. I have found that, without overwhelming players with new world events every session, I try to stick to the one major and two minor events per game year.

These events will happen regardless of player actions. However, if the players can be involved and learn the truth behind the event, it makes it more interesting.

Example Of A Major Event

The ruler of a city dies. The news is reported that he passed peacefully in his bed. The players were there and battled a monster that was trying to control the ruler (the power behind the throne).

Although they foiled the plot the monster killed the ruler. Now that is an interesting event, as the characters know what really happened and will now likely pay much more attention to the power struggle.

Example Of A Minor Event

A gold mine near the PCs’ main town plays out. There is minimal gold coming out of the mine. Describe what happens to the town and the economy as the town tries to adjust with the main industry gone.

The characters may want to become involved in ways to create work. Why did the gold mine run out? Could be an adventure right there.

While you want the world to evolve and change, you do not, for the most part, want your world to overshadow the PCs . Think about events as more plot hooks for the players to evolve their characters in the world.

2. From Jeremy

A couple of thoughts for poor Beleaguered.

1) Are the PCs heroes who can change the course of events?

If so, there are a couple of ways to go about this.

First, the heroes destroy the carefully crafted timeline by derailing something, and everyone goes on their merry way. The times they are a’changin’, and the PCs have the knowledge that they alone are the saviours of the skrag race.

Second, the heroes do as in the first option, but now there are two timelines: one the GM created, and one the heroes created. This allows that wonderful history to still be used at a later date, or that wonderful event the heroes averted to have been averted. You get your cake and eat it too.

2) Instead of worrying about the whole world, worry about one region

I used to have the same trouble: how do you keep track of a whole world? The simple answer is, you don’t. Worry about events in one region. Let the PCs run riot and roughshod over that region.

When it’s all over and that campaign is finished, look at what they did, and examine how it impacts events and ideas across the world. Have the history react to it, then the cultures, and so on.

In my homebrew campaign world, I have used both techniques to great effect. I have one timeline where everything stays static until the year 5032. Then I have three different timelines I follow from there. One is the timeline where PCs destroyed the god of magic’s evil plots and he was banished by the other gods. Slowly magic is draining from the world, and the world is going to end up in a modern age in a few thousand years.

Another timeline is one where that catastrophe was averted by a later group of PCs and the world timeline continues some 100 or so years to account for their deeds.

Then I have another where none of that happened, and I just fiddle with other regions and see what comes. (I also have one where events in the past went haywire and I end up with a postapocalyptic near-nuclear magic war and the world desertified. Magic is lost and psionicists rule the roost.)

Breaking down the timelines and the regions helps you design and run campaigns on a micro scale. Having the macro scale helps that micro campaign be more realistic and more true to life

Your players will not be able to absorb the amount of detail even on a micro level. I am running a game now set 32 years before my 5032 decision point in an oriental portion of my world. I had a huge campaign document for the PCs to get cultural information as this oriental section imbibes portions of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Southeast Asian, and Indian cultures and mythologies.

Did they all read it? No. Do they all understand how this all hooks to the main world? No. Will their actions matter to the world as a whole? Yes.

Not to be sacrilegious, but even the God of the Bible chose one people and one region to follow closely. Learn from the world creators. Be fiercely interested in one area.

3. From Stephen Yeardley, Blackheath, England

I use a spreadsheet with every event that is taking place or will take place listed on it. After every session if we’re active, or after each game world week if we’re in a slow period, I have a random chance assigned to whether the event was entirely successful, partially successful, unchanged, partially unsuccessful or entirely unsuccessful, from the viewpoint of whoever is leading the action and their desired outcome.

[Comment from Johnn: Stephen sent me a sample Excel file for us to see his idea in action.]

The random chance depends on the importance to the stories to the timeline. An event that isn’t supposed to happen until much later, as in Beleaguered’s knowledge of 155 years hence, won’t have “entirely successful” until around that time, meaning it could happen a little before or a little after. It will have “entirely unsuccessful” as that will mean the protagonists will just keep trying.

Whereas Lord Hocequin the Wise would have all involved until either the “entirely successful” or “entirely unsuccessful” comes up, indicating he is either lordly and wise or skrag meat after a complete lack of wisdom.

I use this for many things. Will the rumbling volcano finally erupt? Have gnomes done a deal with air elementals and developed airships? Has the law proposed by the Church of St. Cuthbert to ban necromancy in the capital city finally gone through? Has Yangla the Resourceful tracked down Ongu Swift-fingers for the bounty on her head? Did the new trading post at the end of Gagapp Pass finally get established after last autumn’s unseasonable rains? And so on.

So big, small, huge, tiny, it all goes in. I have several categories including (but not limited to) World, Continent, Country, Regional, Features (forests, mountains and so on), Cities (and smaller population centres), Groups and Individuals (creatures and populace).

Depending on where the PCs are, I add more importance to the categories towards the end of this list, as the PCs will become more aware of them. If Lord Hocequin is on another continent, who really cares? If the PCs are also on a skrag hunt, knowing his progress is much more important.

This system allows me to press a few buttons after setting it up and I know what is going on pretty much everywhere with minimal effort. If the PCs begin to influence anything in particular, I just give the category a slightly different set of random outcome figures and away we go.

4. From GavMo

Johnn:

In a word, Microscope.

Since discovering this game, my campaign design process has seriously evolved. The system is available as a $10 pdf, and playing it lays out a wide span of history in a visually appealing index card layout. The game encourages every narrative element to retain a legacy – the sword handed down, generation after generation, the family plot of land as it develops alongside the kingdom’s progress.

A retcon is as easy as swapping a few index cards out for others, in which the king survives the assassination attempt, and all the notable consequences.

I’ve even had some successful games where my friends and I picked up an old game of Microscope (“Past-Future Samurai Atlantis”) and ran a great D&D session that took place inside a single Event card we’d written days before.

I’ve got so many Microscope decks now, half-inch thick sets of historic Periods, Events & Scenes stacked in chronological order, I may never run out of game-worlds with flavorful, original histories and themes!

[Comment from Johnn: Read more info about Microscope.]

5. From Jess

I tend to keep track of the dynamics of what’s going on rather than the specifics. It’s easy to retcon something into history when it happens off screen.

Maybe Lord Hocequin deals with the skrags, maybe he doesn’t. But ultimately it doesn’t matter at the point where the PCs have nothing to do with all of that. Once they insert themselves into that situation, then it becomes important. The only thing that needs to be tracked is that the dynamic exists between Lord Hocequin, his kingdom and the skrags, plus other complications.

I tend to prefer the sandbox style games, which it sounds like you do as well. This approach has worked for me as far as keeping things sane.

Anarkeith does something similar in assigning certain characteristics to NPC goals and plans. I use networking charts to track all of it. I take a big piece of paper and lay out the various players and see who interacts with whom and how, which lets you create more intricate machinations as the layers peel back.

I actually got the idea from a fiction novel (the Darkness that Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker) when one of the characters uses it to track the dynamics of the various political entities in the world.

6. From Anarkeith

I like to assign a plan or goal to NPCs. What would they be up to if no one interfered with their plans? Players then have a choice to act or not. If they get involved, the plan may be changed.

You could scale that, and write plans for cities and nations. Maybe just one sentence each. As time passes, such plans advance. But don’t worry too much about tracking them until the PCs get involved.

7. From Loz Newman

Beleaguered : I suspect you may be over-thinking things. Unless you really need the psychological comfort that the knowledge of a perfectly-formed and coherent world gives you….

So, what information do you want the players to have? (Don’t say “everything!” That’s an easy out and a sure way to bore your players.)

This is strongly based on what your goals are. Do you want them to gasp in awe, and prostrate themselves before your world-building skills?

Or do you want them to have fun? What are your players’ goals?

VIP It

Try the VIP (Very Important Point)-ing technique. You described a situation: you have mountains and continents of data to handle. And near-exponential amount of links between them. Complicated by the perceived need to evolve everything simultaneously.

Reduce your workload! Think of what the player characters will hear. You don’t need to worry about things that will never affect the gaming group. And if you try to load too much detail into your players’ heads, they’ll get bored with all the exposition that’s chewing up their precious in-game time.

Unless you have some magical equivalent of Global News or Teleport Networks, PCs won’t hear about events instantaneously and perfectly.

They’ll hear distortions (both voluntary and involuntary) of the truth : delays, hypocrisy, “Big Lies”, incompetent tale-telling, sensationalism, rumours, confusion, conflation, wish-fulfilment, interpolation and extrapolation… the list is huge.

YOU get to choose which dribs and drabs you use to illustrate your world. Not explain it, illustrate it.

Don’t explain, show. An NPC merchant griping about civil wars across his suppliers’ routes is way better than 10 minutes exposition. If the players want to delve for more detail, you have an NPC backed up with all the information you’ve created.

Yay for you! Lists of calendars and constellations and such-like can be mentioned in passing during the campaign set-up phase (i.e. be kept available for players to consult as needed). Apply this show, don’t tell bottleneck to your world and you will automatically filter for the most important info.

Keep It Natural

Stay within what the NPC:

1) Knows (see the limits on information mentioned above)

2) Can say without fear to people like the PCs (will they get bored and go away without buying anything?)

3) Can talk about easily (not all NPCs are gifted with the skills of honey-tongued GMs)

An NPC who’s griping devolves into 10 minutes of geo-histo-political cultural exposition isn’t “Showing, not telling”, he’s simply a layer of make-up larded over with lukewarm exposition.

Forcing yourself to act through NPC bottlenecks will force you to plan ahead and think about what is actually important for the players to know. Everybody benefits.

Imagine scenes with NPCs whose behaviour will show what’s happening in the world. Plan how this will interest your Players (Very Important Point, that) and get them talking with the NPCs. Go with the flow, enjoy yourself.

How To Make It Live More

Listen to your players speculate about why a piece of news has reached their ears. If it catches their attention, they’ll theorize about causes, possible behind-the-scene players and their motivations, possible consequences and all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas.

Take notes.

If a player comes up with a better reason for an NPC doing something unusual far away, steal the idea. Replace your old idea with this new one.

This clashes with other information? Good! It will add a touch of randomness to your world that will simulate the NPC’s capacity for illogical, self-destructive, egotistical behaviour. Or, conversely, altruistic, protective or charitable behaviour.

When rumours clash, you have no obligation to give players the truth. Anything they heard that contradicts what they later discover to be true is obviously due to Chinese Whispers type communications problems Even reliable honourable NPCs can be honestly mistaken and act sub-optimally.

List these theories and VIPs and create NPC mini-scenes and bottlenecks to bring in a few more details that confirm the players’ theories. Your group will love the feeling of nailing it first time!

Don’t Force Hooks

If they’re not interested in some plot-critical information, don’t force them to be. Drag the bait across their path once more at some future point. If they still don’t bite, don’t worry. At some point they’ll realise they’re crucially under-informed and start actively looking for the info.

So long as the players trust you to not be withholding important details for your power-mad pleasure, you’re good.

8. From JG

Beleaguered wrote about a huge campaign world that he doesn’t quite know what to do with.

It sounds to me like Mr.B wrote his campaign setting in a vacuum, which is great and all, but in the end, it’s the players that are the driving force behind any campaign.

My personal choice when running a campaign is to know where the PCs are going to be, and then exclusively focus on that area of the world.

Politics, landscape, social interactions and NPCs all depend on where the PCs are in the world at the time, and I care little about what’s going on outside of that portion of the world, except from a macro level.

When I speak of a macro level, I’m referring to things the player characters could not possibly hope to influence, at whatever level they are.

When the characters start out, it’s smaller scoped things (such as the local political scene), and when they go up in levels, they start meeting more and more important people, and their goals become bigger (say, working with the local nobility).

The Macro Level

The only thing I keep an eye on at the macro level is what’s happening to drive the entire campaign arc.

I also try to make sure that, at the end of every session, I ask the players what their intentions are. This lets me focus on creating another adventure in the precise direction they intend to head (so I don’t waste time creating an adventure they’ll never go on).

Focus On 150 Relationships

They say a person can only hold information about 150 relationships in their heads at any time. Assuming for the moment your players are relatively socially adept, they probably have about 75 real relationships in their lives that they should keep track of.

That only leaves 75 or so relationships in the game for them to deal with. You have to pick your moments. Don’t let the players remember the innkeeper that means nothing in the grand scheme.

Do make certain they will remember certain characters, however. Focus on making NPC personalities distinct and extreme.

If the PCs don’t care one way or the other for an NPC, they simply won’t remember them, and you should dump that NPC from the campaign, quickly, even if he’s supposed to be important to the story. (They’ll find someone to love or hate in your story, and then you make THAT guy the focus of the story.)

If the characters LOVE or HATE your NPCs, it will make them easier to remember. If you have an NPC the players like for some reason, it doesn’t matter why, keep bringing that NPC back.

Same thing with the ones they hate. That will impact your campaign, inasmuch as you will have planned something else, but the players will decide for you which characters THEY want to deal with, and then you modify how your campaign looks.

Making NPCs More Important Than Planned

A few easy ways to get seemingly innocuous characters directly involved in your storyline are some tried and true favorites:

The Double Agent

A guy who seems to be your friend, but who really isn’t, who sooner rather than later turns on the party and takes on a new role as “bad guy of the month” (don’t use this one too often as players tend to hate it).

The Man Behind The Curtain

The guy the party just defeated has a master, and he’s pulling the strings (you can use this repeatedly up the chain of command).

Puppet Master

The previously nice people of the town of Whateverville have been taken over by parasitic organisms that control their actions, causing grief for the PCs, who presumably don’t want to kill the nice townsfolk who were previously helping them.

The Miraculous Return

Serves two purposes: the first allows a previously slain enemy to return, stronger than ever before.

The second is it allows for an instant man behind the curtain scenario to pop up. After all, someone had to raise this evil guy from the dead.

This is one of my personal favorites, because it allows the party to kill people at will, and allows for you to return them to the storyline. Yeah, it’s got a kind of daytime Emmy quality to it, but hey, it’s supposed to be just about the fun, eh?

The Mob

There’s always room for crime syndicates. And there’s always people willing to sell their souls for profit. Anyone can be gotten to by the thieves guild. And with enough cash, anyone can turn on their friends.

Deities

Not a big fan of this angle, personally, but you can always use visions for your priest-like characters, to steer them in the direction of adventure on the horizon, and introduce new characters. After all, if someone’s god tells them they can trust Bob the Blacksmith, who are they to argue, right?

All of those examples allow you to refocus player attention on other characters they might care about more than the ones you’ve created. They’ll let you know when you hit the nail on the head. Usually with something like “this guy is cool,” or “I hate this guy.”

By focusing only on the locales and NPCs the players either like or hate interacting with, you can focus on giving the players the best time possible during the game, and it dramatically decreases the amount of information you have to prepare for a given session.

You also ensure you minimize the impact to your campaign world, since, as the players did nothing in the odd parts of your world, you really don’t need to bring anything to the table about that part of the world.

The idea is, if they haven’t been there, you can just keep that part of the world static. For all the players know, it’s been moving around this whole time (who’s to say otherwise?).

Details game worlds - how do you track all the details?

O Wise Sage of the Northern Hemisphere,

I come to you with an all-consuming question and have emptied my cup and am eager to learn.

There’s a world that’s been created and lovingly populated with all manner of things.

There are continents with plate tectonics and zones of subduction and hotspots and rift valleys.

There are ocean currents and trade winds, and mesothermal climate zones and arctic wastes. If you look closely you’ll even find fossils.

There are gods and people, with culturally diverse practices and dimly recollected histories. And there are monstrous creatures of bewildering kinds (although there are no monks ’cause the Creator doesn’t believe in monks [of any edition]). There are clans and aristocracies, with socio-economic statuses, chivalric codes, complicated guild statutes and unbelievingly confusing calendrical systems.

There are constellations and planets and lunar phases, and there are philosophical thought systems and diverse magical practices.

There are herbs with names and functions, and mysterious ley lines that nobody knows about. There are kingdoms with subsistence systems, power centres, rulers and outlaws, secret societies, hamlets and cities, road networks, maritime activities, ecclesiastical policies, and crystal-like beings that shoot lasers from their eyes.

There are people with names and jobs and titles and political affiliations and personality profiles and motivational idiosyncrasies.

And the Creator looked at all of this and saw it was pretty OK.

And sitting in the wings, with historically consistent backstories filled with trauma and triumph, are impatient and sceptical PCs.

The world is poised to explode in a flurry of action and dice rolls, politicking and attacks of opportunity, social climbing and critical hits.

There’s a horse-loving swordsmith about to set up a shop in Cam-for; a rogue who pretends to be a marquis who pretends to be a minstrel and who dreams of owning an air ship; a handsome mage who is a pencil-pusher in the family apportation business; and a bald blue-eyed mystic who is out to slay the gods. And there’s an insane Aranite high priest who wants to kill them all. All, I tell ‘ya.

However, it’s all dead. Or rather, it’s all static. And I have no idea how to un-pause it.

It’s all good and well to know that in Kalderesh, in the spring of 4719 AC, old King Jeffry of Kalder dies, peacefully in bed. And in the summer of the same year, a calamity strikes Barban in the form of an anomalous magical event. These things are fated to happen. After all, its 4650 AC now, and I can tell you what will happen in the winter of 4805 AC (= 933 MC = 1277 G).

So that’s my problem. I’ve got a world with a history made-by-fiat. It’s rationally constructed so there appears to be a sensible dynamic explaining what such-and-such did or how whats-it came to be.

Last winter, Lord Hocequin the Wise of Coldbridge was at odds with the skrags and was going to annihilate them. Did that happen? Is he dead and Coldbridge is now a sink of iniquity? Or are the skrags on the run and Hocequin is now a true member of the peerage? Did the Agopean navy manage to find a passage to the Galentene Empire? And what of the Ursinican rebels?

How does a poor DM keep track of who is going to do what to whom, and when, and what the outcome will be?

It’s driving me nuts! I’m terribly happy to ad-lib and off-the-cuff and impromptu and thumb-suck. I’ll even throw in a sleight-of-hand or two. BUT there has to be a way to keep track [on some scale] of the dynamics of a world.

“Make the world a happenin’ place” was an article written by Rick Underwood ages ago. I’d love to read the follow-up: “What’s happenin and how to track it”

Any advice?

Yours sincerely,
Beleaguered in South Africa

(Picture courtesy of mrbill.)

by R.D. 

Throughout my life I have read many fantasy novels and played many fantasy role-playing games. I have read the stories of Elric of Melnibone, The Lord of the Rings, and the many works of Piers Anthony. Other books I have read include the Deathgate Cycle, Dragonlance, the Icewind Dale Trilogy, The Wheel of Time, A Song of Fire and Ice, The Sword of Truth, Hawk and Fisher, and many others too numerous to list here.

I have played many fantasy roleplaying games including D&D, Talislanta, and Shadowrun. I also have played many computer based RPGs both on console systems and PCs. Within all these works I have observed many standards authors use to tell their stories. Standards that I feel have caused stagnation in the realm of creative fantasy literature. What once were original writings by imaginative storytellers has become copied over and over by succeeding fantasy authors. Contained within this essay is a list of such standards that appear repeatedly within fantasy writings.

First of all, I wish to say that I in no way claim to be a great author or storyteller of any sort. Certainly I have never been published. I merely state my observations as a lifelong reader of fantasy literature. These are merely my own personal observations and opinions and all are welcome to agree or disagree with me and, yes, I will strongly criticize some standards I feel are vastly overused.

I also wish to say that, despite my observances, there is nothing wrong with utilizing and rehashing established fantasy standards in order to tell a story. Certainly if you truly enjoy stories of elves and dragons, then by all means write about them. My point in writing this is that I feel there is a lacking of imagination in fantasy writing these days.

To me, fantasy means imagination. Imagination means thinking beyond the established. Perhaps there are authors who would like to branch out and create entirely new world’s settings and creatures to populate them, but are afraid that the general, fantasy-reading public will reject such stories in favor of the familiar, established fantasy standards.

It is my hope that this quickly written essay will engender thought in its readers and perhaps spur some to create beyond the familiar. There is nothing wrong with loving your elves, but I implore you, dear reader, to think and create new and exciting things. Now, on with the list.

The Great Disaster/Cataclysm/Doom, etc

It seems every world in fantasy literature has some monumental disaster in it’s ancient past caused by nature, man, magic, or some divine influence. This disaster is always a turning point for that world’s history, usually reducing some super-advanced society to medieval or even Stone Age existence.

Some examples are the Wheel of Time series, the Dragonlance series, or the Song of Fire and Ice series. Sometimes the central theme of a fantasy story is the necessity of the heroes to thwart a repeat of the disaster that shattered the world in the ancient past.

Fantasy stories also always take place hundreds or thousands of years after the disaster with the current society never having quite reached the level of sophistication and advancement of the preceding society. I cannot recall ever reading a fantasy story taking place immediately following a great disaster. Nor have I ever read a fantasy story where the current society has achieved or surpassed the level of sophistication and advancement of the preceding society.

The Ancient Super-Advanced Society

This one usually ties into the Great Disaster scenario described above. Whether their technology was magical or mechanically based, nearly every fantasy world sports an ancient society that was destroyed by some event whether it is a disaster or conquest. Remnants of that society usually still affect the present-day society whether in lore, artifacts, or ruins. Most often the Ancient Super-Advanced Society was a stable, idyllic place to live but was destroyed by a disaster or conquest stemming from political or religious corruption.

The Ancient Scholars’ Language

Stemming from the Ancient Super-Advanced Society, the ancient language is often referenced in fantasy literature. This is usually a language used by select groups of sages, scholars, priests, or magic users. Some words from that language are often incorporated into the world’s current language and used even though the current language has words of equivalent meaning. This is intended by authors to instill a greater sense of fantasy to the reader, but is it necessary needed?

An example that comes to mind is in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. One character refers to something called the Con Dar, which is an ancient word meaning ‘blood rage’. Why not simply say ‘blood rage’? Creating ‘ancient words’ to reference people, places, things, situations, or events has become have become overused. After all, what makes the ancient language any more special or useful than the current language when only a select few scholarly types can understand it? In the real world, how many average people speak fluent Latin?

The Quest for the Uber Artifact/Weapon

The Big One! This is the ultimate artifact in any fantasy setting, able to cause incredible destruction or ultimate salvation for the fantasy world. It seems every fantasy setting must have one and it is often the main object of the obligatory quest with opposing factions willing to risk all to possess it. Whether the product of ancient technology or magic, or the construct of some divine whimsy, the Uber Artifact/Weapon is always the only thing in an entire fantasy world that can defeat the current threat to that world.

Also, why is the Uber artifact usually a sword or crystal of some sort? J.R.R. Tolkein, regarded as the father of modern fantasy by some, used a simple gold ring as the Uber Artifact of Middle Earth. Even Tolkein didn’t send Frodo on a quest to obtain The One Ring, but rather to destroy it. Also, Frodo already had the Ring in hand at the beginning of the quest, so why do many fantasy authors send the heroes on a quest to find their artifact? Sometimes the scenario involves the heroes transporting the Uber Artifact from one location where it is stored to another location where it must be used. Why not store the item near where it will be used?

If I may digress for a moment, I feel that in the Lord of the Rings, the fellowship of the ring failed to utilize a great resource they had at their disposal: the eagles. Why didn’t Gandalf ask the eagles to fly Frodo and the One Ring toMountDoom? After all, the eagles later fought the Nazgul in the air, so why would they not do so earlier? The quest could have been ended in a couple of days and at the cost of far fewer lives and a lot less destruction. Perhaps all my years enlisted in the Air Force have me thoroughly indoctrinated in the use of air power. Ah, well.

The Enemy

Admittedly, no story is worth reading without a villain. The villain may not necessarily need to be a sentient creature. The villain could be a disease or force of nature, or anything else threatening the world. In fantasy, though, the villain is most often some ultimate warrior or mage that commands a vast horde and is bent on ruling or destroying the fantasy world and can only be defeated by the completion of a quest to obtain the Uber Artifact/Weapon. This theme is so overused it has become tired. The point is, at their core, most fantasy villains are the same basic villain repackaged for each fantasy world.

The Conquering Horde

The Conquering Horde is one fantasy standard I nearly left out of this list because real-world history is CHOCK FULL of conquering hordes. However, ever since Tolkein, fantasy writers have always employed some sort of horde or army bent on conquering the fantasy world. There’s not really much more to say on the subject but I felt it needed to be addressed here.

The Undead

I am so sick of undead I could vomit. Vampires, zombies, the local lich, and so on, it seems the undead are the one fantasy staple no author can do without. Sometimes fantasy creatures themselves are not enough so authors make undead versions of them. The dracolich, anyone? Almost every fantasy story in existence has undead. The Enemy or the Conquering Horde is often undead.

Even sci-fi videogames like Doom, Half-Life, and Halo fall back to blasting variations on hordes of undead. The recent proliferation of zombie movies like Dawn of the Dead, or 28 Days Later is evidence of this obsession with the undead.

Why is it assumed that zombies are all of the flesh-eating variety? Maybe that zombie horde shambling down your street only wants to get out of the grave for awhile and have a few beers or shoot some pool or something. I imagine lying in a graveyard can get boring after awhile. Anyway, the undead need to be laid to rest for a while, folks, pun intended.

Elves, dwarves, trolls, oh my!

As if the undead weren’t enough, it seems most fantasy authors cannot resist ripping off Tolkein’s versions of fantasy races. Even if such races aren’t directly referred to in name as ‘elves’ or ‘orcs’ then they are usually only variations of them.

These races have become tiresome for me personally to read about. I thought fantasy writing was about using one’s imagination, not ripping off the imagination of others. That’s not fantasy, its regurgitation. Simply giving your elves darker skin and calling them Drow does not make them any more or less elves. It’s only an aesthetic change. People in the real world appear in different skin tones but are still human.

There is a role playing game called Talislanta that was originally published in the 1980s, and in a d20 version, whose selling point was “No elves.” I truly enjoyed the game world because it was so imaginative although established Tolkein-style races have obviously inspired some Talislanta races. However, no matter what the game world, it seems most fantasy fans cannot live without their precious elves.

For evidence of this, go to any fantasy art website and browse the images posted. The Elfwood fantasy art gallery is a prime example of how, in my opinion, fantasy has become stagnant. There are truly imaginative and original works at Elfwood but the vast majority of the art reflects tired subject like elves, unicorns, goblins, etc. There are more dragon pictures on Elfwood than any other type. It’s also a here’s my interpretation of Legolas gallery as well. Once again, no imagination, simply regurgitation. Seagull chicks would feed well on it.

Fighters, Thieves, Mages, and Priests

If there has been one single influence of Dungeons and Dragons on fantasy literature, it must be the classification of heroes into specific archetypes. Now it seems every fantasy role-playing game out there must have variations on the Big Four: Fighters, Thieves, Mages, and Priests.

This has bled over into fantasy literature as well. Whether or not a fantasy novel is based upon Dungeons and Dragons, the character archetypes usually fall into the categories of the Big Four. Even if the main characters of a fantasy novel start out as average, everyday folks, they eventually become versions of Fighters, Thieves, Mages, and/or Priests. Follow the development of the main characters in the Wheel of Time series for an example. That’s all I will postulate on this subject except to say that the same rules of imagination used for fantasy races and creatures apparently apply to character archetypes as well.

The Medieval Setting

Ah, yes, medieval times. Castles, kings, chivalry and the black plague! Fun, fun, fun! I admit I vastly enjoy real world medieval history. Often medieval fantasy doesn’t truly reflect the realities of medieval history, though. This isn’t really important since fantasy is supposed to be about grand adventure and grand imagination, taking the glorious aspects of medieval times and amplifying them while downplaying the not so glorious.

For example, travel in a fantasy world is about riding horseback over incredible terrain and having grand encounters along the way. It’s not about going for weeks without a bath, having to walk alone into the woods to relieve oneself, or freezing in the rain at night. This is not a bad thing, though, since no one wants to read about the mundane.

Aside from the fact that medieval settings are very interesting, why is fantasy literature mostly set in Camelot-style kingdoms with royalty and peasants and castles and armored knights? What about a setting in ancient Greeceor Mesopotamia. Egyptian civilization is ripe for fantasy literature, Stargate notwithstanding. Some authors may argue, I have written about the medieval orient, not about medieval Europe! The key word is medieval. Even oriental fantasy and real-world history contains variations of medievalEurope. Samurai are the oriental equivalent of the European knights after all, cultural differences aside. There are European dragons and oriental dragons, but in essence they are dragons.

But what about a truly imaginative setting? I reference the movie The Dark Crystal as an example. Yes, the gelflings are directly influenced by elves and faeries (gelflings) but aside from that, look at the strangeness of the world. Again I will also reference the RPG Talislanta. The point is, once more the same rules of imagination apply to creating fantasy settings as they do to creating races, creatures, and character archetypes. Imagination is rarely unleashed to create beyond the familiar.

Crystals

Why are crystals so vastly important to fantasy literature? Earlier I mentioned that Tolkein used a simple gold ring as his Uber Artifact. Fantasy authors, and I may come across as sexist here, particularly female authors seem obsessed with crystals. Perhaps it’s the New Age fascination with the supposed healing effects of gems and crystals that has influenced fantasy literature.

If not crystals then there are runes, stones, runestones, you get the idea. Geologists, it seems, have completely overlooked the mystical side of their science apparently. OK, end of sarcasm. Crystalshave become a real yawner for me. If I may refer back to The Dark Crystal again it’s a crystal, original world setting aside. Whether it’s the quest for the uber crystal of world shattering or the crystal sword of troll slaying, crystals, in my lofty opinion, are overused, having lost their originality many years ago.

Well, there it is. It’s by no means complete. There are many things I could include but for now I must go forth and accomplish other things that are demanding my attention. As I said before, these are simply my opinions and you are welcome to agree or disagree as you like.

Some of you may love me or hate me for my opinions. Regardless of what you feel, take what I have written here to heart and begin thinking beyond the established. Unleash your imaginations and share with the world what you, personally, have created. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you found it inspirational or at the very least, food for thought.

By Murometz , manfred, Dozus

Here are ten takes on unusual approaches to the divine for your campaigns and worlds.

1. Hostile Takeover

This world started like many others, along with a pantheon of native gods, but a cataclysmic event changed all that. An alien pantheon of gods, from worlds and realities unknown, usurped the gods of these people, imprisoning, banishing or even destroying them outright.

Confusion reigns below, but eventually the new gods make themselves known to the populace. Reactions vary. Some take to worshiping the newcomers. Some cling to their old, perhaps now non-existent gods. Those priests and certain mages that derive their powers from above will have little choice, though, if they wish to keep their flow of magic.

Perhaps a campaign built around the search for the old gods? Regardless, it would certainly make for a dynamic world.

2. Revolving Pantheons

This world is too small for the sheer power of all deities (or they just can’t abide each other). Therefore, gods take turns in exerting their influence; at other times they are unreachable. If you need support from high on, you have to pray to the gods who are present – but be careful of what you ask of whom…the gods you worship may become displeased with wrong associations.

Here, most people will have several from several pantheons. And whether a god’s influence revolves by season, year or some other mechanism, all people know it, and religion always involves a little politicking – the priests are the greatest masters of this art.

3. Secret Names

There is a name publicly known to designate the deity. However, for praying, people use the secret name of their god(s), a name they have chosen themselves, or learned from others (typically, it is passed on in a family). And they better protect it, because if others make use of the name, they can:

a) Call for favors for themselves – and gods don’t grant many of those!

b) Revoke any boons and blessings to the former users of that name

c) Possibly anger the power in question

It is customary to devise intricate rituals with hidden meanings to appear as a distinct enough supplicant to one’s god. In addition, the longer a name is used, the easier the contact becomes. (This works equally well with monotheism – one common god invoked by many names.)

4. As Below, So Below

A nearly impenetrable haze and thick-laden atmosphere surround this world, making it nigh impossible to see the sun and stars. Here the races evolved differently. They did not have the great firmament to gaze upon. They did not have the night skies to decipher and stare at in bewilderment and dread.

Instead the people of this world looked below to reach enlightenment. The oceans of the realms function here, as the skies and heavens do in most orthodox worlds.

It is below the endless, raging deep, where the races believe the gods come from. The oceans are the great mystery, not the skies above, and the realm of the gods can be found in the great unknown below the surface, in some eerie benthic realm of cold and darkness. Many subtle and some profound nuances exist in this world, and in other ways it is not unlike other worlds with intricate, omnipresent pantheons.

5. Ultimate Sacrifice

People, even ordinary folk can call on the aid of gods – but the helping god will be paid on the spot, usually by draining the caller’s life force. (The form may vary by deity and purpose – sanity, anyone? Priests devoted to that god will seem to pay less.) You want a miracle, you get it.

Priests, in general, are those who can get away with more. But calling for any real favor will get the person hurt. Calling for big favors is the same as, “Save my tribe, oh lord, and take me as your willing sacrifice.”

6. They Will Save Us! (But Have Not Yet Been Born)

Gods do not exist… yet. But we know they are coming. And when they do come, they will know all our deeds and failings. Act properly, or our future saviors will not be pleased. Thus, everyone is preparing for the Great Divine Birth.

Just need to find out what the gods will be like.

7. Careful What You Pray For (And When!)

Everything here revolves around rituals. Worship here is not unlike worship in orthodox worlds with one major exception: prayer must be conducted at precisely the right moments, and only at those precise moments. Otherwise, dire consequences can ensue with prayers mis-answered and tragedies abounding. The priest class here is of vital importance and of highest standing. They are the Time-Keepers. They know exactly what can be prayed for and when! Usually, the priests will base their guidance according to a complicated astrological system, not unlike the infinitely complex Hindu astrology of our world.

8. Ghost-Gods (Honor thy Grandpa!)

Ancestor worship taken to an extreme. The dead are gods. And the only god is Death. Those who pass on become his demi-gods. The living are well aware of their reality and indeed worship countless generations of deceased relatives! No guard dogs necessary in these homes. Spirits are always afoot. In fact, one can’t escape their gods. There are more and more every passing generation. And they like to bicker, just like your real-life relatives. These ones, however, can also grant boons to their living kin, courtesy of the one god, Father Death.

Careful tracking of family trees in this world is a crucial facet of life. Honor thine old-folk! You will soon be praying to them.

9. Deeds, Not Words

God is in all things material, and therefore he sees whatever people do in the material world… and that is what matters, what you really do – materialism, taken to a divine extreme. There will be various economic systems tried, and differing religions and worldviews on how to manage your property.

Prayers are nice, but to approach a god you have to actually DO something. Gods do all the hard work (they run the universe after all), and mortals shouldn’t stay behind!

Some of the worshipers periodically rebuild and destroy their temples, again and again. Most create worthy offerings, and consecrate their products to their chosen patrons. No matter the approach, words alone never work.

From a moral point of view, the droves may keep on babbling, but it is the true substance, the real things, that count. It does not matter what you say, only what you do. That is, what differs good from evil. (Note: may have a special fate for the slackers.)

10. Fear the Gods

Gods are dangerous creatures, sometimes friendly, mostly not. Temples are the way to make contact with them if not easier, then at least concentrated in one place. Were it not for the temples, gods could be running amok among the people.

Therefore, mortals have to keep the gods close to temples, entertained and worshipped. It doesn’t make the worst of them any better, and there is no guarantee some won’t go on trips now and then. Still, there have to be priests who are hardy men, able to survive the rigors of their position, get a sufficient number of worshippers to make the gods feel important enough, and mediate the contact between mortals and immortals. They are the diplomats and defenders of mortals. The gods are miserable bastards, deal with it (and don’t say it out loud).

For 20 more divine ideas, visit the original article at Strolen’s Citadel: http://strolen.com/viewing/4145