There a few primary missteps which I believe many designers make in
creating settings based anywhere in the real world other than Western Europe
is the amount of text required to inform players about a completely new
culture, religious beliefs, economy, lore, etiquette, hell, the civilization in
general. In this sense, content creators are not world-building per se, but
rather re-stating or informing players of a place or region that already has a
real-world history. But describing a civilization unfamiliar to most beyond
pop culture perspective from the ground up takes words….a lot of em.
Designers, usually first include all the stuff that they know from pop culture
and either; 1. Stop there, or 2. They realize that what they have is not nearly enough
context for a whole setting. So, then they deep dive on the locale`s history
and start including almost everything from agriculture to plumbing.
The end result is usually something they are proud of in terms of historical
accuracy, but then they usually must contend with three important
considerations:
-First they may face the real-life ire of folks from the location or its diaspora of
the setting, especially if the designer does not hail from the source of the
setting.
-Second, historical accuracy often isn’t game-able and even if it is, it often
just isn’t fun unless you are of a simulation-ist mindset.
-Third, and probably the most important hiccup is that PLAYERS JUST
DON`T READ!
If you hand a player a hefty tome of 400+ pages and tell them this is the
required reading for just the backdrop of a new setting, you might as well be
talking to a rock, they simply aint gonna read it! (If you are lucky enough to
play at a table of history nerds that will actually read it and get as geeked as
you are about it, then I congratulate you.) The brand-new player, or an
average player who plays a few times a month to drink a beer and hang with
friends simply aren’t going sit down and read the setting if you give it to them,
let alone go out and buy it on their own and read it. So therein lies the rub,
players maybe interested in the setting, but they aren’t going read enough to
embody the setting they claim to be interested in. So, what to do??
This is how I handle, and I would venture to say I run more Asian, African or
Island-themed settings than the average bear. First, I usually insist that most
players simply play their existing characters or roll-up a standard LotFP,
Swords and Wizardry, Dragonslayer or BX character that arrives into the new
setting however the Referee sees fit. (Within the Nebulith I allow new players
to play the Pirate Class as a pirate may hail from any foreign location.) In this
way, the player experiences the new world with something familiar, but this is how I handle, and I
would venture to say I run more Asian, African or Island-themed settings than the average bear.
First, I usually insist that most
players simply play their existing characters or roll-up a standard LotFP,
Swords and Wizardry, Dragonslayer or BX character that arrives into the new
setting however the Referee sees fit. (Within the Nebulith I allow new players
to play the Pirate Class as a pirate may hail from any foreign location.) In this
way, the player experiences the new world with something familiar, but that
familiar character is now a fish out of water as foreigner in a new setting. Use
that! Players can now adventure in a new setting with a natural sense of
wonder without it being assumed that they now the setting as a local.
If the referee provides a player a new setting and a new character class, and
new combat or magic mechanics and says “go!" it is usually too mentally
overwhelming for newbies, and the player at best will try to run their new
character the only way they know how = the same as they did in previous
settings, and at worst, they just kinda sit there flipping pages trying to do or
say something that “fits” within a setting they haven’t read.
Players don`t read, but the Referees do! They are the ones that will read your
400-page setting lore, culture, etiquette, history etc. And often will read it 2
or 3 times. Lean into that. Develop the setting so the referees can unveil the
new setting to the players. In other words, don`t get angry at a player
because their character did not keep their head below the head-level of an
African King because they didn’t read or remember the royal court
procedures on page 272. Foreshadow, hint and/or directly show them the
resulting punishment of locals who committed the same offense as the
characters are entering the palace. Coming into a new setting as outsiders
usually grants the players some leeway against social and setting faux pas in
a new and different society, and allows the players to learn how this world
functions and how to play their characters in-game as opposed to reading 50
pages about the treatment of honor in Japanese society.
Allowing players to experience the setting as foreign newcomers also serves
to dampen the naysaying of those that would seek to denigrate or accuse the
setting of cultural appropriation. It’s easy to say “your setting has players
assuming the roles of characters of real-world races without the players
understanding the context, history or culture of what they are doing.” That is
a difficult argument to make if the players are coming into the setting
roleplaying as unknowing foreigners. At that point detractors can only attack
the setting, which if you have done your homework is as historically accurate
as it needs to be for what you want to achieve. Unfortunately, many Asian
and African settings are only designed around a player being able to
participate by building a brand-new character of a class within the aesthetics
of the new setting, and to compound the matter, there often aren’t places or
methods to introduce foreigners because that possibility wasn’t a part of the
creator`s original contemplation within their homogeneous vision of an
African, Chinese, Japanese setting as it needs to be for what you want to achieve.
Unfortunately, many Asian and African settings are only designed around a player being able to
participate by building a brand-new character of a class within the aesthetics
of the new setting, and to compound the matter, there often aren’t places or
methods to introduce foreigners because that possibility wasn’t a part of the
creator`s original contemplation within their homogeneous vision of an
African, Chinese, Japanese setting.
After the player`s foreign character dies (and they will die) then allow them to
roll-up a new, cool, character local to the new setting. (Or sometimes I find
that they enjoy continuing to play a foreigner in a faraway land, thats fine too.)
Either way, they should have a deeper understanding of how your world
works and their fit in it. There are always exceptions, you may get a player
that knows more about samurai armor construction than is even in the
setting….. fine, I will let this type player enter the game with a local character
from the beginning. I also run Japan-based settings in Japan for Japanese
people, so in that context I don`t have to explain a lot of cultural things to
them like the smell or significance of boiling getto leaves, they already know,
so I will let them play new character classes, day one. But most others need
to be spoon fed your world. (The inverse is also true, I have to constantly
explain to the Japanese players what holy water is and does and the different
types of weapons within western settings)
