When starting a new campaign are there any recommended tools / methods for shared world building between players and GM?
I’m expect that that this is a bit of a Pandora’s box for indie games, but I come at this from an OSR perspective and am just starting to dabble with indie / story games (Dungeon World, Swords w/o Master, etc).
In the past my world building is more the result of emergent play, but now interested in establishing a collaborative foundation.
Finally I’ll say I’m not looking for something too complex or lengthy, rather something that can be run as part of session 0 in a hour or two.
Checkout Microscope. It’s generally longer, but I have heard of a couple of groups using it to establish a base world they explore in further sessions.
Checkout Microscope. It’s generally longer, but I have heard of a couple of groups using it to establish a base world they explore in further sessions.
The 3-4 hour versions of world building include using games (that are relatively simple) such as The Quiet Year, or Microscope. Although you could play a smaller subset of those games in 1-2 hours, that would be extremely difficult to pull off well if it was your first time running the game as well. But that said, just stealing some elements of these games (like the questions in The Quiet Year, or creating Events in Microscope) and going round-robin around the table allowing everyone to answer things could result in a very fast world building exercise.
The 3-4 hour versions of world building include using games (that are relatively simple) such as The Quiet Year, or Microscope. Although you could play a smaller subset of those games in 1-2 hours, that would be extremely difficult to pull off well if it was your first time running the game as well. But that said, just stealing some elements of these games (like the questions in The Quiet Year, or creating Events in Microscope) and going round-robin around the table allowing everyone to answer things could result in a very fast world building exercise.
Jason Pitres Spark RPG is designed for that purpose I think. There is also a free downloadable adaptation to Fate Core from it. That has some nifty tools.
Jason Pitres Spark RPG is designed for that purpose I think. There is also a free downloadable adaptation to Fate Core from it. That has some nifty tools.
Yes indeed. The Spark RPG was specifically designed for that purpose, and it should now be on sale on Drive thru if you want a look.
Yes indeed. The Spark RPG was specifically designed for that purpose, and it should now be on sale on Drive thru if you want a look.
I had a GM once build a region’s history by playing a game of Smallworld — on Android, even, so it was secret from the rest of us. It was actually pretty neat. It created a good history, ancient civilizations, dominant factions competing for resources, and remnants of cultures in remote areas.
I think the Smallworld approach would be good for an OSR style game, with the whole table playing it so that they knew the history — or if you’re old school about the GM’s role, doing it in secret so the table is only aware of HOW the history was developed, but not WHAT the history is. In my experience with old school play (and to a lesser extent, more common trad play), the players like to be surprised and like to discover. It’s very “I am my character” that way, like reading a fantasy novel, being the sheep herder or pig farmer who discovers the wide world.
But I’m no advocate of GMs creating a world on their own, without any player input, regardless of the style of play. It’s better to borrow the game boundaries tips from Microscope and have the players suggest things they want (yes list) and do not want (no list) to see in the world, and then let the GM create it in secret to suit their taste.
In my upcoming game of The Sprawl (definitely not OSR, but on the more trad side of the PbtA universe), I noticed that the Preparing to Play phase demands the GM do this. Players tell the GM what cyberpunk stuff they want to see in the game and what excites them, formally but loosely; but also in a structured way when they create corporations. In my group of 4 players, 80% of the antagonists (corporations) are player creations. The GM has to honor that player input, but still gets to create secret corporate clocks and corporate schemes that let the players discover them as their characters do. The GM still creates the people who are faces of corporations (unless the players pitched good NPC suggestions, but mine didn’t).
General good worldbuilding / game creation policy for any style of play is:
1. Write a game pitch to get players on board
2. Get the players’ feedback and change the pitch if necessary (repeat 1 and 2 as needed, until the players are all excited about the pitch)
3. At Session Zero, listen to players’ character ideas. Discuss genre and mood. Listen to their mood/setting/genre inspirations and take lots of notes.
4. Build the world to your preferred “myth” level around your revised pitch and the things that inspire your players and the setting/genre/mood elements that your players’ characters care about. (OSR style prep is or at least can be more “high myth”, so it’s a lot more work and therefore even more important to take player input into consideration).
Step 3 is what you’re after. So just ask:
Per the pitch, the setting is _ (general description). What about this sort of setting inspires you?
Per the pitch, we’re aiming for _ genre (get real specific). What genre elements do you want to explore?
Per the pitch, I want to aim for _ mood. How do you interpret that and what kinds of things would you like to see in the setting that reinforce that?
…then during character creation:
What are a few people/groups/goals/things your character cares enough about to risk their life?
Those four questions are key. I’m not saying they’re the only questions worth asking, but if you want four quick questions that will get the players’ input in about an hour of discussion, those should do it.
I had a GM once build a region’s history by playing a game of Smallworld — on Android, even, so it was secret from the rest of us. It was actually pretty neat. It created a good history, ancient civilizations, dominant factions competing for resources, and remnants of cultures in remote areas.
I think the Smallworld approach would be good for an OSR style game, with the whole table playing it so that they knew the history — or if you’re old school about the GM’s role, doing it in secret so the table is only aware of HOW the history was developed, but not WHAT the history is. In my experience with old school play (and to a lesser extent, more common trad play), the players like to be surprised and like to discover. It’s very “I am my character” that way, like reading a fantasy novel, being the sheep herder or pig farmer who discovers the wide world.
But I’m no advocate of GMs creating a world on their own, without any player input, regardless of the style of play. It’s better to borrow the game boundaries tips from Microscope and have the players suggest things they want (yes list) and do not want (no list) to see in the world, and then let the GM create it in secret to suit their taste.
In my upcoming game of The Sprawl (definitely not OSR, but on the more trad side of the PbtA universe), I noticed that the Preparing to Play phase demands the GM do this. Players tell the GM what cyberpunk stuff they want to see in the game and what excites them, formally but loosely; but also in a structured way when they create corporations. In my group of 4 players, 80% of the antagonists (corporations) are player creations. The GM has to honor that player input, but still gets to create secret corporate clocks and corporate schemes that let the players discover them as their characters do. The GM still creates the people who are faces of corporations (unless the players pitched good NPC suggestions, but mine didn’t).
General good worldbuilding / game creation policy for any style of play is:
1. Write a game pitch to get players on board
2. Get the players’ feedback and change the pitch if necessary (repeat 1 and 2 as needed, until the players are all excited about the pitch)
3. At Session Zero, listen to players’ character ideas. Discuss genre and mood. Listen to their mood/setting/genre inspirations and take lots of notes.
4. Build the world to your preferred “myth” level around your revised pitch and the things that inspire your players and the setting/genre/mood elements that your players’ characters care about. (OSR style prep is or at least can be more “high myth”, so it’s a lot more work and therefore even more important to take player input into consideration).
Step 3 is what you’re after. So just ask:
Per the pitch, the setting is _ (general description). What about this sort of setting inspires you?
Per the pitch, we’re aiming for _ genre (get real specific). What genre elements do you want to explore?
Per the pitch, I want to aim for _ mood. How do you interpret that and what kinds of things would you like to see in the setting that reinforce that?
…then during character creation:
What are a few people/groups/goals/things your character cares enough about to risk their life?
Those four questions are key. I’m not saying they’re the only questions worth asking, but if you want four quick questions that will get the players’ input in about an hour of discussion, those should do it.
Honestly, this is a system you can easily put together yourself. Character and world creation is very easy to write and always comes off super-awesome.
If you do write it yourself, I’d recommend you make sure that individuals are forced to make decisions, and that everyone gets roughly equal input. Avoid “Where do we think the water comes from?” and instead, do something like, “Sally, where do they get the water from?”
Honestly, this is a system you can easily put together yourself. Character and world creation is very easy to write and always comes off super-awesome.
If you do write it yourself, I’d recommend you make sure that individuals are forced to make decisions, and that everyone gets roughly equal input. Avoid “Where do we think the water comes from?” and instead, do something like, “Sally, where do they get the water from?”
You might want to read this here: docs.google.com – docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1w9J802SnXhaAVrTlHHAXiAMlZMuQSRXNi1n8A3gZ2bo/mobilebasic
You might want to read this here: docs.google.com – docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1w9J802SnXhaAVrTlHHAXiAMlZMuQSRXNi1n8A3gZ2bo/mobilebasic
For most of my Cthulhu campaigns (Trail, 3 of 4 conversions of Chaosium stuff) I’ve usually created a custom Fiasco playset that is thematically/historically related to the campaign. For these I use a specially designed aftermath (basically dump the worst results and change the ranges for the other results) so that they characters aren’t left as emotional wrecks, and generally use the Soft Tilt from the Fiasco Companion. We also run with an accepted understanding of “don’t kill each other.”
For more traddy games this kind of works really well–by engaging in low-stakes freeform play, the players get to experiment with their characters and express who they are. Also, an actual lived backstory event is stronger IMHO than just writing it together (I think the various question-asking phases in stuff like The Watch and Night Witches have a similar idea). The randomness of the playsets, especially in the relationships…well, it mostly works, and sometimes creates interesting connections. When I ran Masks of Nyarlathotep with a gender-flipped Jackson Elias, one PC ended up as her former fiance, and that brought a lot of depth to the game.
I tried one time to do a kind of Fall of Magic intro bit but it turns out that it’s much harder to pull off than it looks 🙂 and that one fell a bit flat.
For most of my Cthulhu campaigns (Trail, 3 of 4 conversions of Chaosium stuff) I’ve usually created a custom Fiasco playset that is thematically/historically related to the campaign. For these I use a specially designed aftermath (basically dump the worst results and change the ranges for the other results) so that they characters aren’t left as emotional wrecks, and generally use the Soft Tilt from the Fiasco Companion. We also run with an accepted understanding of “don’t kill each other.”
For more traddy games this kind of works really well–by engaging in low-stakes freeform play, the players get to experiment with their characters and express who they are. Also, an actual lived backstory event is stronger IMHO than just writing it together (I think the various question-asking phases in stuff like The Watch and Night Witches have a similar idea). The randomness of the playsets, especially in the relationships…well, it mostly works, and sometimes creates interesting connections. When I ran Masks of Nyarlathotep with a gender-flipped Jackson Elias, one PC ended up as her former fiance, and that brought a lot of depth to the game.
I tried one time to do a kind of Fall of Magic intro bit but it turns out that it’s much harder to pull off than it looks 🙂 and that one fell a bit flat.
Just another recommendation for Ben Robbin’s excellent game Microscope. It has the advantage of being really scalable – if you want a quick setting with some factions and historical figures, ninety or so minutes of Microscope will get you there, easily. If you want a full-blown history with ancient empires rising and falling, wars waged, new continents/solar systems/dimensions discovered and what-have-you, Microscope can get you that also.
Just another recommendation for Ben Robbin’s excellent game Microscope. It has the advantage of being really scalable – if you want a quick setting with some factions and historical figures, ninety or so minutes of Microscope will get you there, easily. If you want a full-blown history with ancient empires rising and falling, wars waged, new continents/solar systems/dimensions discovered and what-have-you, Microscope can get you that also.
Keith Martin That’s a really good point! And there’s no reason you have to play it once and be done.
For a very traditional fantasy game where the players and their characters discover the world together, Start off with a Microscope game of “how our characters came to be” telling the story of their parentage and youth, going back maybe 100 years, max. Rand al’Thor born on the slope of Dragonmount and all that. Then, when they get filled in on different setting aspects, instead of an NPC monologing the history of the Knights of the Holy Light or whatever, play a Microscope game of it. As you build up True Facts about the setting that emerge, you can make them constraints on future Microscope games. But you can also overturn those True Facts as you go, too, because that NPC who narrated the history of the Knights could have been mislead, deluded, lying, or ignorant.
Since you keep your cards after you play Microscope, you can go back and see how changes you make later ripple through previously told histories. When the Mages Guild Microscope story tells you that the gods only appeared when a wizard broke the barrier between worlds just a hundred years ago, you can go back to the history of the Knights and ask what happened a hundred years ago, and re-interpret it in that light. Before then, they had faith in gods that didn’t exist. Then all of a sudden… And look at your character history cards: A hundred years ago, so-and-so’s great grandfather fled after angering the Mages’ Guild. Well! Now we know what that might have been!
That could be fun! The campaign would have a very mythic feel, since every dungeon adventure would have at least one session of Microscope where you engage in storytelling instead of exploration and fighting monsters.
Keith Martin That’s a really good point! And there’s no reason you have to play it once and be done.
For a very traditional fantasy game where the players and their characters discover the world together, Start off with a Microscope game of “how our characters came to be” telling the story of their parentage and youth, going back maybe 100 years, max. Rand al’Thor born on the slope of Dragonmount and all that. Then, when they get filled in on different setting aspects, instead of an NPC monologing the history of the Knights of the Holy Light or whatever, play a Microscope game of it. As you build up True Facts about the setting that emerge, you can make them constraints on future Microscope games. But you can also overturn those True Facts as you go, too, because that NPC who narrated the history of the Knights could have been mislead, deluded, lying, or ignorant.
Since you keep your cards after you play Microscope, you can go back and see how changes you make later ripple through previously told histories. When the Mages Guild Microscope story tells you that the gods only appeared when a wizard broke the barrier between worlds just a hundred years ago, you can go back to the history of the Knights and ask what happened a hundred years ago, and re-interpret it in that light. Before then, they had faith in gods that didn’t exist. Then all of a sudden… And look at your character history cards: A hundred years ago, so-and-so’s great grandfather fled after angering the Mages’ Guild. Well! Now we know what that might have been!
That could be fun! The campaign would have a very mythic feel, since every dungeon adventure would have at least one session of Microscope where you engage in storytelling instead of exploration and fighting monsters.
Have you guys ever gone back and done Microscope after you already had a couple sessions in a new campaign? Could that work? Maybe just set the currently established fiction as items that can’t be contradicted?
Have you guys ever gone back and done Microscope after you already had a couple sessions in a new campaign? Could that work? Maybe just set the currently established fiction as items that can’t be contradicted?
Look for Sparks in Fate Core… Albeit it quotes a lot Fate Aspects, I believe it would be easy to work it out for your system
Look for Sparks in Fate Core… Albeit it quotes a lot Fate Aspects, I believe it would be easy to work it out for your system
Perilous Wilds for Dungeon World has a wonderful and easy world creation system.
So does Beyond the Wall but it isn’t as simple!
Perilous Wilds for Dungeon World has a wonderful and easy world creation system.
So does Beyond the Wall but it isn’t as simple!
Thanks all for your suggestions here on “framing the setting” for a new campaign. I pinged both the OSR & Guantlet communities and this is what I’ve heard collectively which should help in my research. Of course happy to hear other suggestions in this space.
1.Microscope – $10 pdf
2.The Quiet Year – $6 pdf
3.Spark RPG – $10 pdf
4.Powered by the Apocalypse procedure like recommendation
5.Write it yourself approach, asking players questions directly “Sally, where do they get the water from?” instead of “Where do we think this water comes from?”
6.Fiasco + Soft Tilt from the Fiasco Companion, see also The Watch and Night Witches that have question asking set-ups – $12 pdf
7.Perilous Wilds for Dungeon World – wonderful easy world creation + Beyond the Wall (live play example) also wonderful but more complex – $8 pdf
8.Burning Wheel Empires + Unknown Armies 3rd edition – $20 pdf
9.Freebooters of the Frontier – Dungeon World supplement – $4 pdf
10.On Mighty Thews -$5 pdf
11.Unbound – $12.50 pdf
Thanks all for your suggestions here on “framing the setting” for a new campaign. I pinged both the OSR & Guantlet communities and this is what I’ve heard collectively which should help in my research. Of course happy to hear other suggestions in this space.
1.Microscope – $10 pdf
2.The Quiet Year – $6 pdf
3.Spark RPG – $10 pdf
4.Powered by the Apocalypse procedure like recommendation
5.Write it yourself approach, asking players questions directly “Sally, where do they get the water from?” instead of “Where do we think this water comes from?”
6.Fiasco + Soft Tilt from the Fiasco Companion, see also The Watch and Night Witches that have question asking set-ups – $12 pdf
7.Perilous Wilds for Dungeon World – wonderful easy world creation + Beyond the Wall (live play example) also wonderful but more complex – $8 pdf
8.Burning Wheel Empires + Unknown Armies 3rd edition – $20 pdf
9.Freebooters of the Frontier – Dungeon World supplement – $4 pdf
10.On Mighty Thews -$5 pdf
11.Unbound – $12.50 pdf
MICROSCOPE!
MICROSCOPE!