What info do you need from a campaign handout

[Yora]

I am going to start a new campaign soon with two settings to pick from. One would be Planescape, which would be easy because the PCs are getting dropped into a strange place they don't know anything about, so I wouldn't have to prepare any information beforehand at all. They would learn it all as they are exploring the city. :smallbiggrin:

The other option, which might be a better choice for players who don't know anything about D&D and have played any RPGs only once or twice, would be my homebrew world. In that setting, the PCs would be locals who would have to know their way around their homeland.

So I want to compile some information for them with the basic stuff their characters would know and that would also help them to come up with characters and backgrounds and so on.
But what exactly would be things that players would have to know about a setting they don't know anything about yet? To a large part that probably depends on the particular unusual features the setting has, but is there anything you would want to know about a setting in every case?

[Alex12]

General demographic information and attitude toward various races and classes (being a gnome wizard, when the entire world is manaphobic and sees gnomes as the local version of Nazis? Hm. Maybe I'll rethink that.)

General environmental traits (half the planet is desert, so I shouldn't try an aquatic race)

[valadil]

Here's a hack I've used. Players don't like reading. They say they do, but they lie. The more you write up the more likely they are to skim.

I've found a page to be the upper limit of how much information to hand out. It's pretty hard to lose interest over the course of a page.

But that's not a lot of room, you can't cram all that much info into a single sheet. I need my players to know about the undead incursion, the realm of the bull demon queen, Prince Tedley's menagerie of piranhakeets, and the second moon that stays out all day, except in the rain. How can I cram all that into one page?

I never said you only had one page. Just that players lose interest after more than a page. So type up five pages and give each player one of them. Give them information based on each of their own domains of knowledge. Knowledge skills and hometowns are a great start.

For extra credit, be a real jerk and give the players contradictory information on your handouts.

[Vitruviansquid]

I give the players most of the information they'll need to know about the world during play when it comes up. There's simply no reason to have the players know the entire geopolitical situation on the continent if you're starting them with small scale quests around a single hamlet. Then, when you move the players on to the world-scale stuff, you can guarantee they'll have forgotten everything you told them anyways.

That said, the most important information I think the players have to know are the genre expectations in the setting. Are the players supposed to go in with guns blazing or will you be punishing them for not coming up with a crafty plan to solve every problem? Will the players want to be fighting or talking most of the time? Should your players adopt the mores and values of average modern guys, Arthurian knights, ancient Greek heroes, something else entirely?

[Yora]

The big problem probably isn't that they lose interest after one page, but to get them to open the file in the first place. :smallbiggrin:

I think I'm going to start with one very bare bones fact sheet, but also have a 6 page or so encyclopedia, where they can learn more about specific things later on. I think once they are involved in the world, there's a much greater interest to learn about the details.

[Lorsa]

Some players pay attention easier when they hear a nice voice. Maybe telling them in person will work best and the written part is just so you'll remember what to say?

Good things to include is how the country is governed, what most people do to earn a living, how many live in cities compared to villages, the views of the rich and poor on the country itself and the general moral of people. Geography is a given I assumed.

[Kol Korran]

Hmmmm... Well, I like to divide my "campaign promo" into two parts: Game & Setting:

Game
- Is this mostly a sandbox or a structured plot, or something in between?
- What sort of activities can the party expect on the game, any special emphasis (Combat, espionage, social, naval adventures, dungeoneering, and so on)
- power level at beginning, and estimated power level at finishing the campaign, if it is known.
- Any special house rules you may have (including ability scores, races, classes, alignments, magic, combat and so on).
- Attendence and game frequency expectations (for new groups forming)

Setting
- A brief on major settlements where you start at (no more than a paragraph for most, perhaps 2-3 for big ones).
- relations between races, any changes to the normal races the player should be aware of.
- religion (especially for religiously inclined characters)
- How magic is treated in the world how common is it, how available it is.
-If possible a small rudimentary map (Helps a LOT!)
- Possibly some description on well known/ notable NPCs, or of less known to the public NPCs, but well connected to the party.

Note: I often make one "what every "appropriate-region-dweller" should know"- a bullet point list of concise statements, often flavorful, that I expect each character to know (Yes, about a page, though my players often read the whole wiki sites I set for them). This works well with the more life-loaded players.

[Gavran]

Here's a hack I've used. Players don't like reading. They say they do, but they lie. The more you write up the more likely they are to skim.

I've found a page to be the upper limit of how much information to hand out. It's pretty hard to lose interest over the course of a page.

But that's not a lot of room, you can't cram all that much info into a single sheet. I need my players to know about the undead incursion, the realm of the bull demon queen, Prince Tedley's menagerie of piranhakeets, and the second moon that stays out all day, except in the rain. How can I cram all that into one page?

I never said you only had one page. Just that players lose interest after more than a page. So type up five pages and give each player one of them. Give them information based on each of their own domains of knowledge. Knowledge skills and hometowns are a great start.

For extra credit, be a real jerk and give the players contradictory information on your handouts.

I just wanna say that I really like this and I'm going to be looking for opportunities to try it from now on.

[Yora]

I now made a 3 page introduction (http://barbaripedia.eu/downloads/Ancient_Lands_Campaign_Guide.pdf) (with another 4 pages of dictionary in the same document), which I think about covers the things I consider especially important to know when making a character.

[Totally Guy]

I like to provide info from these two questionnaires, one for game culture, one for setting.


Same Page Tool – Checklist

Do you play to win?

a) Yes, you totally play to win! The win conditions are…
b) Good play isn’t a win/lose kind of thing

Player characters are:

a) expected to work together; conflicts between them are mostly for show
b) expected to work together; but major conflicts might erupt but you’ll patch them up given some time
c) expected to work together; major conflicts might erupt and never see reconciliation
d) pursuing their own agendas – they might work together, they might work against each other
e) expected to work against each other, alliances are temporary at best

The GM’s role is:

a) The GM preps a set of events – linear or branching; players run their characters through these events. The GM gives hints to provide direction.
b) The GM preps a map with NPCs and/or monsters. The players have their characters travel anywhere they can reach on the map, according to their own goals.
c) The GM has no plan – the GM simply plays the NPCs and has them act or react based on their motivations
d) There’s no GM. Everyone works together to make the story through freeform.
e) There’s no GM. The rules and the system coordinate it all.

The players’ roles are…

a) …to follow the GM’s lead to fit the story
b) …to set goals for their characters, and pursue them proactively
c) …to fling their characters into tough situations and make hard, sometimes, unwise choices

Doing the smartest thing for your character’s survival…

a) …is what a good player does.
b) …sometimes isn’t as important as other choices
c) …isn’t even a concern or focus for this game.

The GM’s role to the rules is…

a) …follow them, come what may. (including following house rules)
b) …ignore them when they conflict with what would be good for the story
c) …ignore them when they conflict with what “should” happen, based either on realism, the setting, or the genre

After many sessions of play, during one session, a player decides to have her character side with an enemy. This is…

a) …something that shouldn’t even happen. This is someone being a jerk.
b) …where the character becomes an NPC, right away or fairly soon.
c) …something the player and the GM should have set up ahead of time.
d) …only going to last until the other player characters find out and do something about it.
e) …a meaningful moment, powerful and an example of excellent play.

A fistfight breaks out in a bar! The details of where everything is – tables, chairs, where everyone is standing is something that…

a) …is important and will be displayed on a map or grid, perhaps using miniature figures.
b) …is something the GM will describe and you should ask questions to get more information.
c) …you can decide on the spot using specific game rules (rolling dice, spending points, whatever)
d) …isn’t really that important other than it makes for an interesting scene- pretty much anyone can come up with details.

In order to really have fun with this game, the rulebook is something that…

a) …everyone playing needs to have read and understood before play, because the rules and setting are both very important.
b) …everyone should know the rules very well.
c) …everyone should know the setting very well.
d) …everyone at least should know the basics of the rules.
e) …everyone at least should know the genre the game pulls from
f) …Only one person needs to really know the rules and it can be explained in 10 minutes or less to everyone else.

SPECIAL
Instead of “choose one” think of this as a checklist – pick which options apply, leave the ones that don’t.

This game runs best when the players take time to create characters that are…

a) …built to face challenges using the mechanics and stats.
b) …written with extensive backstories or histories
c) …given strong motivations and an immediate problem or crisis
d) …tied into the other characters as (allies) (enemies) (as either)
e) …written with some knowledge, research or reading up on the game setting, real history or an actual culture

Fiction Hurdle Questions

Does everyone know the answers to these questions for this game? Hopefully between the game text and making choices above, the group can also be on the same page for the following points. If not, clarify!

What kind of conflicts make sense for this game?

What kind of protagonists make sense for this game?

What kind of outcomes make sense for this game?

This one should be tweaked for genre and the above questions.

What's the Big Picture? What's going on in this setting that makes it ripe for adventure. What's changing, evolving, declining?

What's the world's culture? What are the cultural analogs? Analogs can be taken from historical earth, current events or fantasy works.

What's the conflict in which the characters are involved? What are the sides? What's wrong?

What physical place does this conflict take place in? What ecology, environment, place?

What's the name of a faraway place that folks talk about, dream about or mutter under their breath about?

Imagine all of the characters are standing a room/ruin/field with the antagonists or their minions. What do the antagonists want from that meeting? What do the characters want from that meeting?

Alternately, imagine the characters standing at the scene of some great disaster or calamity clearly caused by one of the antagonists. What's the disaster? How did it happen? What are the characters going to do about it right now?

What type of magic exists in this world?

What character stocks are in play in this world? Which are restricted and why?

What cultural traits apply to the characters of this game world?

What's the game world's currency? Who collects the taxes? What do people do for work? What's the major economy?

Material world: What weapons and armor are available? Are some weapons and armor restricted to certain cultures or character stocks? What property is available? Are resources and gear otherwise restricted?

[Yora]

That second list pretty much matches with the kind of information I want to provide for my players. Reassuring to read.