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Rient's 20 quick questions for your setting: anything to add?

Started by Shipyard Locked, July 19, 2014, 10:56:42 AM

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Shipyard Locked

July 19, 2014, 10:56:42 AM
An old but very useful post from Jeff Rient's blog that I've been thinking about lately: http://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/04/twenty-quick-questions-for-your.html

What would you add to that list to help DMs focus on what really matters?

LordVreeg

#1
July 19, 2014, 11:39:46 AM
Quote from: Shipyard Locked;770561An old but very useful post from Jeff Rient's blog that I've been thinking about lately: http://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/04/twenty-quick-questions-for-your.html

What would you add to that list to help DMs focus on what really matters?

http://celtricia.pbworks.com/w/page/60581028/Vreegs%20Rules%20of%20Setting%20and%20Game%20Design


http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-make-fantasy-sandbox.html
Rob's is another favorite...
Currently running 1 live groups and two online group in my 30+ year old campaign setting.  
http://celtricia.pbworks.com/
Setting of the Year, 08 Campaign Builders Guild awards.
\'Orbis non sufficit\'

My current Collegium Arcana online game, a test for any ruleset.

Larsdangly

#2
July 19, 2014, 12:55:39 PM
Quote from: Shipyard Locked;770561An old but very useful post from Jeff Rient's blog that I've been thinking about lately: http://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/04/twenty-quick-questions-for-your.html

What would you add to that list to help DMs focus on what really matters?

This is great!

Artifacts of Amber

#3
July 19, 2014, 02:05:48 PM
I would probably add

What organization can't you wait to tell me about?

Since what the GM is excited about is usually more fun.

Marleycat

#4
July 19, 2014, 02:18:54 PM
I would say where is the bathroom? But where is the tavern pretty much covered that. Seriously it's a solid and obvious list.
Don\'t mess with cats we kill wizards in one blow.;)

Zak S

#5
July 19, 2014, 06:07:42 PM
QuoteWhat is the deal with my cleric's religion?
Where can we go to buy standard equipment?
Where can we go to get platemail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?
Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?
Who is the greatest warrior in the land?
Who is the richest person in the land?
Where can we go to get some magical healing?
Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?
Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?
Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?
Where can I hire mercenaries?
Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?
Which way to the nearest tavern?
What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?
Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?
How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?
Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?
What is there to eat around here?
Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?
Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?

How many local languages are there?
Do any other religions have beef with my cleric's religion?
I won a jillion RPG design awards.

Buy something. 100% of the proceeds go toward legal action against people this forum hates.

Ravenswing

#6
July 20, 2014, 04:42:35 AM
Pretty D&D dungeon fantasy-centric, I'd say.  But I'll bite.

Starting From Scratch

Beyond that, for bulletpoint questions:

* What's the deal with the dominant regional religion?

* What are the races/nationalities/factions the locals hate and why?

* Who's the local ruler?  (This is, after all, the person that the aforementioned mightiest warrior and wizard work for, and to whom the richest person pays taxes.)

* What's the big nasty thing that happened three years ago that the locals just do not want to talk about?

* Who's the most infamous bandit leader/pirate king in the land?
This was a cool site, until it became an echo chamber for whiners screeching about how the "Evul SJWs are TAKING OVAH!!!" every time any RPG book included a non-"traditional" NPC or concept, or their MAGA peeners got in a twist. You're in luck, drama queens: the Taliban is hiring.

Zak S

#7
July 20, 2014, 04:48:11 AM
Do random locals msotly have levels?

What level do the PCs have to get to before locals start recognizing them?
I won a jillion RPG design awards.

Buy something. 100% of the proceeds go toward legal action against people this forum hates.

Shipyard Locked

#8
July 20, 2014, 06:51:06 AM
Just thought of one perhaps:

What unusual features stand out from the landscape when we scan the horizon?

everloss

#9
July 20, 2014, 09:11:41 AM
Quote from: LordVreeg;770565http://celtricia.pbworks.com/w/page/60581028/Vreegs%20Rules%20of%20Setting%20and%20Game%20Design


http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-make-fantasy-sandbox.html
Rob's is another favorite...

Bat in the Attic has some interesting stuff sometimes, but who the fuck is actually going to spend time thinking about air and ocean currents? Unless that is somehow central to the underlying theme of the setting, it's pointless and time-consuming.
I'm going to keep reading through his steps just to see if it continues to be as ludicrous as step one.
Like everyone else, I have a blog
rpgpunk

Ravenswing

#10
July 21, 2014, 12:07:32 AM
Quote from: everloss;770726Bat in the Attic has some interesting stuff sometimes, but who the fuck is actually going to spend time thinking about air and ocean currents? Unless that is somehow central to the underlying theme of the setting, it's pointless and time-consuming.
Hell, I'm an anal worldbuilder, with detail that's never seen the light of day and never will, but I saw those charts and went "Eccch."

(This, by the bye, with my campaigns traditionally being heavily nautically-oriented, and me being an Age of Sail fanatic.)

Seriously, the most I bother with is that the prevailing winds in this region come from thataway, and I don't trouble myself with worrying over how that affects the air currents at X-500 nm, X+500 nm, or Y+500 nm.  While I'm not sold on Rient's list, I do appreciate his premise: that you should focus your development time on things about which your group will care, and avoid obsessing over things they'll never notice, or give a damn about if they did.
This was a cool site, until it became an echo chamber for whiners screeching about how the "Evul SJWs are TAKING OVAH!!!" every time any RPG book included a non-"traditional" NPC or concept, or their MAGA peeners got in a twist. You're in luck, drama queens: the Taliban is hiring.

daniel_ream

#11
July 21, 2014, 12:32:03 AM
Quote from: Ravenswing;770824[...]I don't trouble myself with worrying over how that affects the air currents at X-500 nm, X+500 nm, or Y+500 nm.

I read that as X+/-500 nanometers, and thought "shit, dude, you are seriously hardcore".
D&D is becoming Self-Referential.  It is no longer Setting Referential, where it takes references outside of itself. It is becoming like Ouroboros in its self-gleaning for tropes, no longer attached, let alone needing outside context.
~ Opaopajr

Ravenswing

#12
July 21, 2014, 09:35:54 AM
Quote from: daniel_ream;770827I read that as X+/-500 nanometers, and thought "shit, dude, you are seriously hardcore".
(cackles)

Heh, that's nautical miles, actually.  Apologies; I was lapsing into sailor's jargon.
This was a cool site, until it became an echo chamber for whiners screeching about how the "Evul SJWs are TAKING OVAH!!!" every time any RPG book included a non-"traditional" NPC or concept, or their MAGA peeners got in a twist. You're in luck, drama queens: the Taliban is hiring.

LordVreeg

#13
July 21, 2014, 11:33:23 AM
Quote from: Ravenswing;770909(cackles)

Heh, that's nautical miles, actually.  Apologies; I was lapsing into sailor's jargon.

that made me smile.
Currently running 1 live groups and two online group in my 30+ year old campaign setting.  
http://celtricia.pbworks.com/
Setting of the Year, 08 Campaign Builders Guild awards.
\'Orbis non sufficit\'

My current Collegium Arcana online game, a test for any ruleset.

LordVreeg

#14
July 21, 2014, 11:34:30 AM
Quote from: everloss;770726Bat in the Attic has some interesting stuff sometimes, but who the fuck is actually going to spend time thinking about air and ocean currents? Unless that is somehow central to the underlying theme of the setting, it's pointless and time-consuming.
I'm going to keep reading through his steps just to see if it continues to be as ludicrous as step one.

well, they are very different looks.
My listing is very 'meta'.  His is more detail oriented.
Currently running 1 live groups and two online group in my 30+ year old campaign setting.  
http://celtricia.pbworks.com/
Setting of the Year, 08 Campaign Builders Guild awards.
\'Orbis non sufficit\'

My current Collegium Arcana online game, a test for any ruleset.
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