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Zurvan
2014-12-19, 06:01 AM
What is better? Heavy or light lore and background?

Sometimes when I'm explaining about the world, the history, kingdoms, cities and politics... i kind of feel like I'm being very boring.... It is rare but does happen.

Is it better to do it like Dark souls, subtly, through hints and item descriptions?

Yora
2014-12-19, 07:08 AM
I think the theoretical optimum is to have lots of material, but making it not necessary to understand what's going on. If someone does something somewhere, it's great to be able to say who that person is and what that place is. Because then you can mention that person or place later again, and players might recognize the name and see that there is a larger world out there and stuff is not just made up as you go and discarded after single use.
I think it's best to keep info brief during the game, because people will only remember things that are directly related to something they care about. If the PCs are going to a cave to get the sword of an elven king who died fighting its monsters, all the information that is useful for the players is to know that they are looking for the remains of an elf, likely with rich armor, and the sword they are looking for is elven style. Perhaps knowing what he was going to fight in the cave might come handy as well. But it really is completely irrelevant what that kings life was like or the history of his kingdom.
One could potentially put a puzzle at the end of the adventure which only makes sense if the players know all that history, but at the time the players get that information it doesn't mean anything to them and they probably won't remember any of it. It's usually a bad idea to try anything like that.

Tarlek Flamehai
2014-12-19, 07:15 AM
What is better? Heavy or light lore and background?

Sometimes when I'm explaining about the world, the history, kingdoms, cities and politics... i kind of feel like I'm being very boring.... It is rare but does happen.

Is it better to do it like Dark souls, subtly, through hints and item descriptions?

This depends somewhat on the setting. As a player in a D&D game, I prefer the heavy details be available when I ask/roll for them. I prefer my initial intro to a new city to be rather like Obi Wan introducing Mos Eisley, “Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.” Short and to the point, in a TTRPG a thumbnail visual description is nice too.

Solaris
2014-12-19, 08:46 AM
If it's rare your players get bored hearing/reading about your setting, you're doing something right.
Most of the time, the only interest players have in a setting is what they can exploit and what they can set on fire - or both.

LibraryOgre
2014-12-19, 11:46 AM
Accessible lore is better; something that lets you get a general handle on the setting, but has a lot of background to give you clearer pictures.

Generally, I should be able to give people a decent background on the setting of the immediate area in a single page of text.... basic ideas, deities worshiped, etc. That should be enough to get them started. Those who get involved with the setting should be able to delve deeply, if they like, but there should be an option for people who are going to skim the surface of a setting.

Vitruviansquid
2014-12-19, 01:03 PM
The Dark Souls method of revealing lore works because Dark Souls has a story about exploration - you're a stranger taken to a strange land, so it make sense to be perplexed all the time while still finding evidence of the lore strewn about.

If your roleplaying game isn't about being a stranger in a strange land, as many RPG's aren't, that method wouldn't work so well.

Hiro Protagonest
2014-12-19, 01:24 PM
Dark Souls' way of delivering story is clunky and, honestly, immersion-breaking. Do items come with pamphlets? Does your character already know this?

If you do it a better way, I guess it could work, but it still has to be the right type of story for it. In Dark Souls, you're a pawn, trying to figure out the meaning of the chess game that you've just come into with your arrival on a mysterious continent. Giving no ways for the players in your game to learn more than characters in Dark Souls is restrictive and doesn't play to the strengths of the medium.

DeadMech
2014-12-19, 02:02 PM
There are worse ways to sprinkle the lore of the world into your game. Even the most interesting events in history can put people to sleep if it's told to you like you were in a highschool history class. Memorizing names, places, and dates for the sake of knowing names, places, and dates for a test.

Something I don't feel happens often enough is conflicting narratives. For example, the Elder Scrolls series of games. Every culture has it's part in history but more interestingly they also have their own interpretations. Much like real life, everyone either views events through their own cultural lens or distorts events for their own personal reasons. Not only does this make history more realistic, but it makes history more mysterious. It compels the players to dig deeper out of curiosity. In the end you have a relatively good idea about what happened, but the finer details are left to debate.

Seto
2014-12-19, 03:40 PM
I'm actually thinking of implementing something. One of my players' character has a good score in Knowledge (History), and instead of just sometimes giving him info when he rolls for it, I might give him a general chronology of things he should know (assuming he takes 10), the important dates, legendary NPCs, wars and stuff. That way, if it ever comes up, he might remember it and explain the other PCs on his own - which is more immersive. And if he needs to know specific stuff that might require more than 10, then he'll roll.