Setting Time Line

[Hoobaju]

I'm currently working on the copy for my game. The setting is a dark futuristic / cyberpunk / insert cliche here world.

I realize I'll need to bring the reader up to speed with the world as it exists..

my question is basically how do you as a reader feel about time-lines.

do you prefer a simple lists of dates and events, in-depth narratives covering the span of fiticious time in minute detail, or simple gloss-overs to capture the cliff-notes of 'world altering' events, or something in between?

and if 'something in between' please explain, as I have worked my way into a bit of tunnel-vision as of late and need a bit of help clearing my thoughts up.

Thank you.

[clehrich]

Welcome to the Forge!

The moderators don't like opinion polls, but as you're new here I'll risk their wrath.

First of all, I assume that the details actually matter here.  I mean, in a lot of settings, it really doesn't make a whole lot of difference; it's all color, or set-dressing.  So let's assume that it all matters in some way.

Second, I assume that because of this, you're willing to devote considerable space to the setting, that in some way that setting is a central element of your game and how it works.  If that's not the case, then I'd keep it all pretty brief anyway because probably my first assumption above isn't accurate either.

So granting all that...

I'd much prefer a detailed narrative, plus a sketch time-line in the back.  You don't need to write a massive tome or anything, but give me a narrative any day.  Well written, this will give depth and flavor to all that background material.  It's all very well to say that in 2015 the U.S. and Iran had a nuclear war which led to the shattering of North America into a series of enclaves or something, but if this actually matters in some way (as for example it does in Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age or Snow Crash, though not much), then I want to know what this war was about, how it progressed, and what the fallout (excuse the expression) really was in a lot more detail.  

If I'm supposed to play with the details of the setting, in other words, I need details to work with.  If I'm not expected to be doing this, I'm not convinced I need much more than a sketch of the world as it is right now.

To take an extreme case, my own game Shadows in the Fog (see weblink below) makes a lot of hay out of historical detail.  So even a narrative isn't sufficient: I had to build a big wiki to put it all in.  Now you don't need to go to such extremes, and chances are your setting isn't quite as importantly detailed as this --- don't get me wrong, I've never seen a game in which the historical setting details actually matter this much, which was one reason I wrote the sucker that way.  But if playing with detail matters, we need detail.  If it doesn't, we don't need almost anything.

Does that help?

[Brendan]

Detailed alternate or future histories in game books stun me with boredom.  They tend to read like the novel the game's designer still believes he could have written, if he'd only had the talent to put in some dialogue.  If you need some events established to explain Sim facets of the game, I say do a timeline and some illustrations.

[Russell Collins]

It is quite a challenge to fill your players in on the history of your game setting. I remember reading out large chunks of the first few chapters of Tribe 8 over and over again until I was hoarse; because no one wanted to take the initiative of reading through all that when I could summarize it for them. Same reason why I gave up trying to run Demon. Too much history before the actually game play.

The best way to go might be little summary paragraphs attached to a timeline. They can be story hooks too, and the players can draw up their own associations between the events by how they're laid out.

I'm trying to get players interested in Transhuman space as a campaign setting, but this is one of those instances where the technology as it is laid out in the game books is either too technical or too unfamiliar for my players to just accept. But since the setting is basically driven by the technology, I'm in a corner.

[Hoobaju]

I just wanted to say thank you all for your comments, and apologize for not replying sooner, but being an auditor this time of the year dosen't allow for a lot of free time :/

Thanks again,
TJ