Setting and emergent stories [English]

[Leonardo]

I think the essay is simply invaluable, especially Part III with its 10 steps procedure meant to suggest a way to prepare and run a setting-centric Story Now game when the source material is not very straightforward in explaining how to make use of the setting in order to get the most out of the game.
It reminded me of Dogs in the Vineyard town creation procedure in that it's an easy to follow, quite specific checklist that helps with the task of extracting, enhancing and developing the interesting issues integrated in the setting, making it easier for the players to create characters that are tied to the situation and that best incarnate, express and allow to address those same issues.

Sometimes one of the problems I have with setting-centric Story Now play is in selling the setting to other potential players (in Ron's words: "1. Choose a location. The group must discuss and become enthusiastic about the setting [...]"). I'm not sure it is an issue specific to this kind of play and it may simply be an instance of the more general "sell me a game" thing. The fact is that I noticed that, like magpies are attracted to shiny objects, at first many players appear to be more attracted to a colorful and imaginative setting than to the issues that the setting brings forth. There is nothing wrong with this: when we seat down to roleplay (Story Now) we are not interested in crafting a dissertation about some topic of interest to mankind; we are there to produce an interactive, negotiated fiction that, more or less directly, addresses those topics. So the "how" of a setting is at least as important as the "what", even more maybe. Yet I feel that what makes a setting-centric Story Now game click in the long run and what makes some players interested in the game at first doesn't always coincide. An example may be useful.

For a couple of years I have been fancying about organizing a Riddle of Steel game using as a setting a sligthly modified version of the Vosgaard region of the Birthright AD&D campaign setting. Quick summary for those who don't know about Birthright.
The Vos are a brutal, barbaric and superstitious culture, medieval Russia-flavoured, living in a cold merciless land. Hard people born from a harsh land (Conan anyone?). They live grim lives made of farming, fishing and raiding their neighbours, believe in grim, manipulative and violent gods and what they like the most is crushing their enemies, see them driven before them and hear the lamentations of their women.
There are a couple of overarching, related themes spanning the Vos culture at large.
The first is the issue of "unity": the only thing that seems to prevent the Vos from  becoming a threat to the whole continent is that they are a divided and disorganized people, more preoccupied with internecine warfare and power struggles than interested in projecting their potential power elsewhere.
The second, related but more important, is the issue of "identity": two informal factions are developing in Vos society. The "Torva" are interested in preserving Vos' lifestyle and strictly adhere to the traditional precepts of Vos culture: they are xenophobic, despise merchants and traders, raid their neighbours, burn temples dedicated to foreign gods to the ground, etc. The "Nona" are still brutal but definitely more progressive and open to change and contacts with strangers and different lifestyles. They are also interested in trying to unite the Vos people into a single powerful kingdom. In the campaign timeline, the two factions are beginning to clash to determine the future of the Vos people. (As an aside, it's interesting to notice how the authors of the setting are ineherently leaning towards the Nona faction: while Torva relevant NPCs are very often evil-aligned, Nona NPCs are mostly neutral and a few are good).
These overarching themes find specific application at the local level in the setting: in an otherwise insignificant small kingdom named Melyy a few silver veins have been recently discovered generating a true "silver fever". Commoners are abandoning their farming and fishing activities to try their luck in the mines, organized trade-oriented people are exploiting the situation to gather money and influence while traditional warrior leaders have to face a flood of new people coming into Melyy from neighbouring kingdoms. At the same time those same neighbouring kingdom's leaders are turning their avid eyes towards the little Melyy and its silver mines. Basically, Melyy's society is on the verge of being transformed and everyone roles redefined. Such a situation, engineered by the setting authors, matches almost exactly Ron's 5th step in the procedure: 5. Aggravate the situation with a Trigger event – anything which destabilizes one or more of power, money, status, or resources. (it destabilizes all of them).

Now, I'm personally very interested in issues like identity and alienation. I think they are very relevant to today's society. Just think about how the world has changed in the last 15-20 years because of the attempt to extend globalization on a planetary scale: sometimes it was/is forcibly enforced, some other the transformation encountered little opposition and sometimes it was enthusiastically embraced. All the times it generated contradictions and further conflicts.
But the point is that a setting like the one I have just described puts its issues at the forefront and doesn't coat them with a shiny, fancy, especially original high fantasy colour that can draw the interest of players who are not so interested in those issues (I'm not saying this is a bad thing). So, unless you find someone who really really shares your deep interest, it happens quite often that, no matter how excited you are while you describe the setting, you end up staring at the 'meh' look in the eyes of your "convert-ee". And since the The group must discuss and become enthusiastic about the setting part is something you can't really skip if you want the game to be even possible, you better put your project on hold or find someone who is almost as excited as you are.

[Alessandro Piroddi (Hasimir)]

@ Moreno ... I disagree, but now I don't have the time to explain myself, and also I need a bit more time to reflect on your words and take a second look to Ron's ones.
But you'll hear from me again, soon! è_é

[Ron Edwards]

Moreno, I've come to think of Illusionism as the negative extreme, with any "in the know" indicating some degree of Participationism.

The distinction you're drawing is very finely-drawn, as I see it, perhaps too finely to matter. I see almost, perhaps complete identity between your two phrases: "the player's knowlege of being in a 'story before' situation" and "on the use of the 'Black Veil' by the GM." Well, maybe not complete. But very nearly complete.

It's no surprise that the author of Under Illefarn was Steve Perrin, no stranger to devotees of early RuneQuest. In fact, I recognize most of the authors of that series, notably Aaron Allston, one of the heavy hitters of early Champions.

Alessandro, I agree with Moreno. Not all settings are suitable, not intrinsically. I think it's possible to invent certain depth or details into a printed setting to make it more interesting; I found myself doing this when I was reading the Al-Qadim material, for example. The only problem with doing this is implementing it for actual role-playing, when I discovered that (whenever I tried) I was forced actually to re-write the whole setting.

My personal list of settings in the three relevant categories include

Powerful as written, play as written, bask in the wonderfulness: DeGenesis, Center Space, Glorantha (in a class by itself), Venus 2141

Plenty of potential but the authors didn't use it, highlight it, or perhaps even know it, or if they did, it was dodged or buried under crusts of other nonsense: Justifiers, Planescape, Underground, Fading Suns, The Whispering Vault, Tribe 8, The End

Very pretty but ultimately unusable for Story Now play, needs to be rewritten and profoundly re-focused in order to be played in this fashion: Al-Qadim, Jorune, Space: 1889

Please note that the above lists refer to the settings as written, without reference to the systems or instructions for play. Also note that I have omitted certain settings which are very good but require specific input from the GM (Zero, Lacuna), or any games in which setting is built by the group in some way (shock;, Sign in Stranger, In a Wicked Age, Sorcerer). Finally, the lists are not complete, merely intended as a snapshot.

Leonardo, I think the step you've raised deserves deep discussion in an Actual Play thread. It is, I think, an issue specific to this particular kind of play, both socially and procedurally.

... I feel that what makes a setting-centric Story Now game click in the long run and what makes some players interested in the game at first doesn't always coincide.

I agree. What that means to me is, my priority is not to make as many people in my gaming group attracted to this particular project for play, but rather to play it only with people who are.

... if you want the game to be even possible, you better put your project on hold or find someone who is almost as excited as you are.

Yes. Again, I think you should start a thread about how this was actually brought into practical, functional role-playing activity. I'd love to contribute to a discussion about that issue.

Best, Ron