Conveying setting

[Bankuei]

After looking at the Sci-fi thread, a question popped into mind;  The biggest problem that all games dealing with the not existant(whether future tech or fantastical elements), is that you have to convey the ideas to potential players.  Most games successfully pull this off by either sticking close to reality("It's just like our world, except..."), genre("It's just like D&D except..."), or a license("Go see the movie/book/show/etc.").

Obviously real life and licensed games have a big advantage as any fantastic elements or background are pills the players have already swallowed.  Other, more far out games, have to rely on pictures, fiction, and color, hopefully convey the ideas properly.

So, the question is thus: How do you best convey setting/color in games?

Chris

[Matt Snyder]

Wow, what a question. How to color a game ...

First off, since I'm a very visual-minded guy, I can't stress enough the value of art and design that properly conveys the vision of a game. I truly believe every game can only benefit from improved or good design. This doesn't mean things need to be four-color glossy pages w/ art on every page. It does mean that one has to design smartly, often under tight limitations of budget, space, color and so on.

I see this as a way to create an atmosphere for a game, a visual interface that readers/players can absorb. With a flip through a well-designed book (i.e., one that conveys well the setting) the readers says, "Ahh, I get it. Neat."

Now, there are obviously other means many games employ to convey setting. Many games in the past 10 years or so employ that "in-character" prose and even verse to convey setting. This is only as good as the writers -- for me, Tribe 8 is satisfactory in this regard. I like the game, and I generally like the "in-character" text its uses to share elements of the setting. However, it's not the most popular technique. Many folks decry the sometimes lousy writing. I don't think one should wave a broad brush and say all "in-character" writing for setting sucks. I say that for two reasons. First, there's bound to be some tolerable writer who can pull this off. Second, using this technique allows one to do things subtly that exposition about a game cannot. It conveys a closer perspecitve; it also conveys a emotion that will be weak or non-existent in exposition. Again, I see it as atmosphere, and when done well it can work.

So, I guess I'm saying atmosphere is the key. Control the atmosphere your reader/player experiences, and you'll drag the person farther into the setting than 100 pages of explanatory setting chapters ever will.

Finally, I think it's crucial to have a system that conveys setting/color well. What one does to play the game -- rolling dice, playing cards, ticking of boxes on a character sheet, whatever -- should reinforce the setting. Underworld's coin mechanics are a good example of this. This isn't always easy to do, and often it's too awkward or over-the-top to work. Go with caution on this one, I'd say.

[Bankuei]

I generally like the "in-character" text its uses to share elements of the setting.

So far, the best example I've seen is the writing in Adventure! as far as demonstrating color with game examples.

Chris

[Paul Czege]

Hey Chris,

Since Matt read your question entirely differently than I did, I have to ask...were you interested in communicating setting through gameplay or communicating setting through game text and art, or in creating atmosphere and color? I thought you were asking how to overcome the hurdle of conveying complex setting details to players during play. If so, my best answer is what I wrote to Manu http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=11827#11827">here.

Paul

[Matt Snyder]

Hey Chris,

Since Matt read your question entirely differently than I did, I have to ask...were you interested in communicating setting through gameplay or communicating setting through game text and art, or in creating atmosphere and color? I thought you were asking how to overcome the hurdle of conveying complex setting details to players during play. If so, my best answer is what I wrote to Manu here.

Paul

Paul -- you're probably much closer to what Chris was after here. I think may have missed Chris' cue about getting players in a group to come along for a colorful ride (as opposed to, effectively, designing a game for any group out there!). Still, I hope my comments are useful in some way.

[Bankuei]

What a great thread, Paul, much thanks!

Chris

[Eric J.]

(my first comment on a thread that I didn't start) I will be concise.  I think that it's the GMs responsability to convey setting, for several reasons.  The first is time.  My players simply don't want to read too much information about an imaginary world.  They will read it if it's a novel, but generally the form that it's put into is like a non-fiction book and can easily become boring (especially for newer players).  The second reason is cost.  I can't imagine every one in my group purchusing a Player's handbook as it can cost well above 30$ when one person is adequite.  As the GM who has purchused the supplies only a few times, I would be a hippocrite if I didn't feel simpothetic for them.  Another thing is that people like to learn about new things while in-game.  This allows for a sense of awe and new enjoyment, rather than just understanding about something before-hand.

Just my opinion,
Eric
(my players will become a burdon on you people yet)

[Seth L. Blumberg]

As far as conveying Setting, the best (to my taste) example I can think of are the alien supplements for MegaTraveller published by Digest Press. They were structured in two parts: the first was a long "in-character" discussion of the species in question, usually presented as being written by a journalist or academic belonging to that species, and intended to represent an actual in-game publication that the PCs might find if they did some library research, while the second was a much shorter GM-only section covering the inaccuracies in the subjective views presented in the first section, as well as game mechanics.

For Color, I think Nobilis (from Hogshead) has just raised the bar. My previous example of excellent technique in conveying Color was Maelstrom (from Hubris). Both examples use liberal doses of "flavor text," generally only loosely related to the topics under discussion in the main text, with layout and typography that clearly distinguish the flavor text from the main body of the work. Both also use layout and typography as tools in and of themselves to convey Color.