Impulse Settings

[Vulpinoid]

Here's an idea I'm toying with.

It started basically as a kind of Power 19 that really delves into a setting and why it is suitable for a game environment.

Then it developed in a slightly different direction, evolving according to some of my own design theories.

I've looked at quite a few modern games and have noticed a trend toward simplified setting design. Instead of a hundred pages of background and dozens of possible storylines, these games start with a single impetus and enough background to set the tone. Lady Blackbird is a great example of this, have a look at it if you haven't already (it's a free pdf).

But I'm more interested in how minimal a setting can be, but still provide a good driving force for stories to develop. What do you need? What can you forget about initially, developing through the course of play (if the need arises)?

I'm sure plenty of GMs out there are familiar with the scenario where they write up a page or more of background, just to have their players ignore the plot thread linked to these details...mapping out a huge chunk of dungeon, only to find that the players die due to some bad die rolls, or take a left turn instead of a right.

This is an idea to propel plot with an impulse, not to bog it down with detail. It's really designed to get a game moving initially, but I don't see why it couldn't be used to provide further impetus to a game once it starts slowing down a bit.

So for my proposal...

10 Questions. Each to be answered with a sentence or two.

1. What was the world like? (This gives a base description of the established culture of the setting)
2. What is the world like now? (This gives an idea of where things seem to be heading based on recent events)
3. How has the change in the world affected the characters? (This brings the events of the setting a more personal and powerful feeling)
4. Who caused the change? (This determines who might need to be faced in the setting)
5. Who is benefiting from the change? (If the character's caused the change these might be potential allies, otherwise potential antagonists)
6. Who is suffering due to the change? (If the character's caused the change these might be potential antagonists, otherwise potential allies)
7. What types of tasks need to be performed in the world? (This gives an idea of the types of actions that become focal points of the story, and possibly ways to split the party roles)
8. What is valued in the world? (This gives an idea of the primary resource which will probably be a driving goal within the setting, and helps to define the world of the characters as different to the world of the players.)
9. Are there any established relationships in the world? (Once players start to interact with the setting, the allies they make will tend to cause others to view them in a more positive or negative light...and conversely, the people they cross will start to define their relationship to other factions).


The aim is that the vital details for a whole setting can be written up in a page or so.

This setting is enough to play a game or two in...after which a new impulse could be used to drive the game further (a new change in the form of a new group in town, a change in the environment, a political shift, it could be anything)...but whatever happens, new things become important to the story. Perhaps the story moves to a new environment altogether for some reason.

Now, I'm just looking for ideas I might have missed in these core setting questions. I realise that I might have overlapped a few areas in some of the questions, and that there is probably a glaringly obvious gap that I haven't accounted for.

Any input to refine this concept would be welcomed.

V

[tleeuwenburg@gmail.com]

I think that the more you make the setting minimal, the more you rely on the GM to invent stuff on the fly. In my games, I often prefer to invent the storyline beforehand, but look to the source books for guidance on monsters and encounters/fights.

Perhaps you could package a dozen basic encounters / battles / small dungeons which the GM could use to aid the storyline impulses?

Cheers,
-Tennessee

[Judd]

Michael,

I have done a bunch of question driven setting creations and find that it helps when the GM or someone has some kind of idea in mind and the questions already have some kind of spin on them, some kind of color, a vibe to them.

I responded to the Story Games thread you posted on this but thought of a different thread that I missed and might be helpful.

Here's Luke's thread on the BW forums about making settings for BW:
http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4236

Here's is an RPG.net thread with lots of different sets of questions for Questions Based Setting Creation:
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=223126

That first question you posted up is huge and will likely freeze many groups right in their tracks.

[David Berg]

Hi Michael,

I really like the idea of developing setting based on "a change", and being able to throw down more changes and go back to that process to flesh the setting out.

Looking at your list, though, I'm a little confused.  Do you intend for a GM to fill this out by himself?  Do you intend for a play group to brainstorm and concoct answers together?

Some of those questions seem to be only indirectly about setting, and are easier to address if phrased differently.  "What do the players do with their characters?" is really the point of #7, right?

[Warrior Monk]

I've started to playtest a sort of simplified burning wheel. Players get to define their gods, their countries and then their characters, all in half an hour or so. This way they all begin familiar with the setting and pantheon, saving a lot of work to the gm. Then I defined some organizations for the setting and added tables to generate adventures, npc's, creatures, towns, etc. So far, it works wonderful for me, I'm a lazy GM and I can create a lot of stuff on the fly, so being able to create both story and setting in one hour it's a good relief that allows me to enjoy the game along with the players, watching them do most of what used to be my work.

Perhaps if you include some way players can help the GM to answer these questions, or perhaps directly ask them to your players, you might get surprised of how interesting and complex a setting/adventure can become with players input.

[Vulpinoid]

Alright, let's take a couple of quick example run through the questions with a couple of  fairly well known story...

(I'll admit there might be better ways to answer these questions, but just indulge me for a bit...also note that I've reworded the fourth question from "Who" to "What" based on the parallel thread over at story games.)

Beginning of the Lord of the Rings...Frodo's perspective when his adventure begins after Bilbo's party, Gandalf is putting forth the quest.

1. What was the world like? Simple and carefree farming existence. Some people have adventures in far off lands, but adventures are typically things had by other people. 
2. What is the world like now? A touch more sinister and dangerous. If someone doesn't deliver the great ring to the elves soon, the shire (and the world) is in grave peril.
3. How has the change in the world affected the character(s)? Those who don't know of the change can live their mundane lives for now, but once the immediacy of the situation is known, everyone must confront their inner demons and choose whether to join the free forces, submit to the dark lord, or simply hide.
4. What caused the change? The catalyst for change is the one ring, specifically it's revelation by Bilbo, but this had led to numerous other changes.
5. Who is benefiting from the change? The dark races and those who serve the dark lord Sauron; the Goblins, Orcs and Trolls, the Easterlings and Haradrim.
6. Who is suffering due to the change? The free races (whether they know the change has occurred or not); the last of the Elves and Dwarves, the Ents, the Rohirrim, the Dunedain, the other Men of the West. 
7. What types of tasks need to be performed in the world? The patrolling of the wilderness, the protection of the towns, the sending of messages between far flung people, the gathering of intelligence on enemies, the research into ancient lore.
8. What is valued in the world? (This is the bit where every GM answers differently to really give their stories a specific tone...but I'm going with...) Freedom. The freedom to choose between right and wrong, the freedom to live a life free from the dark lords slavery.
9. Are there any established relationships in the world? I've actually found that the answer to this question is implied and structured through the other questions if it is necessary to the story. If it isn't necessary to the story, then it's a needless addition to the questions...

The question easily lead themselves to sweeping epics....but I'd like to think they can handle a more personal story as well.

Todd Macfarlane's Spawn...I know there have been heaps of twists and changes in this story but let's just stick with the early issues of the comic (and the movie adaption).

1. What was the world like? There is always war, there are always warriors. The character's world is filled with people charged to fulfill the deeds that the rest of the world feels undesirable, deeds that must be done to maintain society for the greater community; assassins, soldiers, scientists, politicians.
2. What is the world like now? Not only are there dangerous people in the world, but there are dangerous creatures too.
3. How has the change in the world affected the character(s)? The characters now realise that they are a part of something larger. They know that death is not the end and have a vague feeling that hell is real; they might have escaped it temporarily, but at what price.
4. What caused the change? The deth of the characters should have been the end, but characters have dim recollections or flashbacks of deals made in the dark fires of the underworld. While this may not have changed the rest of the world, the specific world of the characters is now seen in a very different light.
5. Who is benefiting from the change? Initially it is unsure who is benefiting from the change, but there are obviously people in the world who would like to see the reborn characters working towards their ends (whether through open alliance, subtle manipulation, blackmail or other means).
6. Who is suffering due to the change? It is also unclear who is suffering as a result of the rebirth. But there seem to be others in the world who have been reborn and who have taken on a more aggressive stance toward the mortals. 
7. What types of tasks need to be performed in the world? Protection of humanity, protection or advancement of corporate or government interests, negotiation of deals and contracts, fulfilment of contracts for undesirable deeds such as assassination, demolition, etc.
8. What is valued in the world? Power. People are willing to kill for it, make deals with the devil for it, sell out their principles for it. What are the characters willing to do for it.


Take note that the change propelling the story doesn't need to actually change the world, it just changes the character's world (or their perspective of it).

While the questions are immediately suited to a short story with a defined start point and some possible directions of action, I'd envision a few sets of questions building up to a grander epic. Each set defining a specific story arc in campaign play, and each twist in the greater narrative prompting a new set of questions based on the answers that have been unveiled so far.

The GM might craft a basic set of questions to set the tone for their game (or this could be collaborated through some structured opening scenes and discussion by the group), then each player might craft their own set of specific answers to define the journey they'd like to see their character taking. Interaction between these answer set can definitely lead to some rich and complex stories emerging.

Perhaps the group has a common set of answers, while each player chooses "true inner responses" for their characters in response to questions 5, 6 and 7.

5. Who have YOU SEEN benefiting from the change?
6. Who have YOU SEEN suffering from the change?
7. What tasks DO YOU THINK need to be performed in the world?


The point of these questions is to propel a story in a certain direction. The answers define a basic framework of the world's origin and where thing seem to be heading if no changes are enacted by the player characters. I'm envisioning them at the moment as a way of setting a sandbox setting into motion.

Is that making things any clearer, or am I just muddying the waters further?

V