First off, I could swear I came here earlier and already posted. Perhaps I was interrupted mid post by a phone call - it's been a busy day.

With that said, I made a blog article on ways to create lore for your campaign here:

https://www.secretsofblackmoor.com/blog/making-lore-for-your-campaign

Let me know if you have questions or suggestions.

Griff

Quote from: Secrets of Blackmoor on December 15, 2022, 09:07:15 PM
Creating lore for your campaign is actually really easy. You see, most gamers aren't that picky...

^This^ ^This^ ^This^

You don't need to go full-metal Tolkien to when you make a game world.

What you do need is a sense of internal consistency. (Which will already put you miles ahead of most every commercial setting out there.)

Decide on the internal logic of your game world, and stick to it.

Also a big mistake new GM's make is trying to do an entire world. Don't.

There is rarely any reason to imagine anything bigger than Western Europe.

Starting with only a few bordering countries, and a limited map is absolutely 100% viable. You can just create/extrapolate lore and other countries as you go - just taking care with notes not to contradict yourself.

Quote from: Secrets of Blackmoor on December 15, 2022, 09:07:15 PM
For your own campaign no one will read what you write but your gamer group.

Your players will read?

Lucky Bastard.

Unless my setting has some specific elements that I want to highlight, most of the settings reality and tone is just shared verbally as we go.

I don't dare hand my payers anything more than a paragraph during play. And then only if it has a direct impact on the immediate situation.

One thing I really make an effort to remember is this: The players do not care about any Lore that does not directly impact them during play.

But this is actually a very good thing. As I have no intention of ever going full metal Tolkien on setting design.

I am trying to ramp up my game. My players get a lot to read.

The Epic Arc story has begun.

They are off to weird places.

I tend towards generalization, and only get into specifics when my players travel to a specific location. 

That lets me keep my options open, and the word count down. 

Having a ten thousand word novel written about every little town isn't going to happen.  I'm too busy for starters.  Also, I tend towards random tables when I'm stuck, so it's nice to not be contradictory. 

What I do at least do is pick a major source of conflict, then go by fours.   One faction is greatly in favor of it, one faction is slightly in favor of it, one faction is slightly against it, and the last faction is against it in a big way.  What that mysterious "it" can be doesn't matter.  Just pick something.  Immigration.  Cloning.  A religion.  Monarchy rule or Democratic elections.  Military conquests.

Take a sci-fi setting that is debating the use of super soldiers.  One is all in, with a ruling class of them, one faction treats them as secondary citizens and best kept as prisoners in peace time, one small faction of pirates only have super soldiers, but they're small and unorganized, and the largest, most powerful nation has none, and want to purge the universe of all super soldiers in a fanatical/zealot crusade. 

Stuff like that.  I'll fill in the details later as we play. 

I prefer to only have the big picture outlined and to generate the details when needed with setting appropriate random tables. That way it feels like the world is slowly being uncovered.

Fiction / lore is only really there for my own amusement. It doesn't add to the game people want to play in my experience.

Quote from: Secrets of Blackmoor on December 15, 2022, 09:07:15 PM
First off, I could swear I came here earlier and already posted. Perhaps I was interrupted mid post by a phone call - it's been a busy day.

With that said, I made a blog article on ways to create lore for your campaign here:

https://www.secretsofblackmoor.com/blog/making-lore-for-your-campaign

Let me know if you have questions or suggestions.

Griff

Thanks, Griff. Really good stuff. Keep sharing, I'll read.

I also enjoyed your appearance on Inappropriate Characters.