Integrating background and gameplay.

[ArlethVann]

Hi everyone, first post so go easy ;)

I'm a fairly new DM and I started playing with a group of people who, like myself hadn't played before, so I started fudging most of the rules to get things moving. However, now we have all learnt them, I've been able to plan out adventures a little better, but with this slightly more formal style (my side of the screen at least) I've found it difficult to find ways to convey stories or background about their world to them that re important to the plot without resorting to a random NPC launching into a tale. How could I allow my players to piece together the story, both for flavour and to help them understand the bad guy.

Thanks in advance for any advice :)

[Dolour]

have your players get a hold on some note, either sent from the BBEG to his lakkais or the other way round...
diaries or some other document outlining parts of the evil plot, or revealing the collaboration of npc X,
whos allways been suspiciously helpful to the party...
have your "named encounters" spew the usual evildoers "thats how im goina take over the world" speech at them...

no1 reason the badguy fails: the nale thing.
if the bad guys ever figure to stick with "kill them allready and stop spoilering our plan" were all doomed. :p

just dont be affraid something could be TOO cliche, in fact (unless its a total overdose) the moar the better. ;)

[ArlethVann]

Thanks very much :)

Although I was more thinking of revealing the BBEG's motivations and backstory more than his plan.

[Dolour]

well its not mutually exclusive.
just pack some personal reasoning into sayd speech, have documents point out events of the past thatll peace togeather etc...
have the party stumble over an npc who allready had to deal with the BBEG and sheds some light on the plot/reasoning.

[Surpriser]

Have the background story find and interact with your players.
If in your setting nobles have absolute power and act like jerks, have an NPC noble act like a jerk to the PCs and show them that there is nothing they could legally do against it.
If a secret cult is trying to awaken an ancient evil, include a cultist in an otherwise unrelated encounter (and let him talk about their plans or carry some notes).
If two kingdoms are hostile towards each other due to centuries of war, have the PCs stumble upon a mob lynching a traveller for wearing the wrong color. Even better: Have one of the PCs be accused (rightly or not) to be the enemy.
If a necromancer has created undead that cannot be harmed by positive energy, the (N)PC cleric gets mobbed by these things and its up to the party to save them.

The point is, if there is some sort of information about your world that you want to convey to your players, let them interact with it instead of only telling them about it. Alternatively, have them stumble across a facette of it and let them research the rest for themselves.

Don't be afraid to be too obvious! And always have a contingency plan for the case that they still don't get it (e.g. wise old man/mysterious stranger Plotus Expositionus)

[ExLibrisMortis]

Mechanically, you can rule that your players are taking 10 on Gather Information every time they have a meal in a tavern. Knowledge checks are a good excuse to reveal some info, too, and you can passively sense the motive of any potential plot hook you meet. Just let an NPC lie to the players (don't overdo it with the bluff score), and if they pick up on it, maybe they'll want to find out why. You'll probably want to avoid any direct 'your character concludes ...' kind of stuff, but you can drop info almost anywhere there are NPCs.

In the case of the BBEG backstory, it depends a bit on what type you got on your hands. Some BBEGs have a regular old rumour mill going, but some aren't public. A secretive BBEG would of course be an object of study for followers of Vecna (who can always be counted upon to have PC-relevant secrets!), and even secretive BBEGs get their spell components somewhere. A disruption in the supply of onyx - perhaps an incident at the mine - could signify an upcoming undead apocalypse. If your players don't get it, you break out the passive k(arcana) or k(religion), or the nervous sage, up in his ears with the news, goes for a calming drink at the local pub.

[Brendanicus]

If you want to convey ancient lore, use artifacts. For example, finding a mural depicting a ancient scene crucial to the backstory can be very interesting for players, because they need to actively interpret the message instead of just being passive recipients of NPC dialog.

Tomes, ancient Greek-style urns, and tapestries can also do the job.

Vague visions can also be fun, especially if the player receiving them is a cleric/druid/oracle/ other meditative class.

[Stuvius]

Being an avid reader I often utilize books as a tool for plot development or narrative flow. In a campaign I am currently running, the PCs were hired by a king to eliminate a dangerous cult in his kingdom. As thy have never been to the land he rules, his scribes provided them a guide to his kingdom. It covered everything from geography and natural dangers to the political landscape. It was general but provided some fun hidden clues to the BBEG's motivation and to things they might run into on their adventures. Plus, I got to make a cool looking ancient book to hand out at the first session. It was a big hit.

[Geddy2112]

Being an avid reader I often utilize books as a tool for plot development or narrative flow. In a campaign I am currently running, the PCs were hired by a king to eliminate a dangerous cult in his kingdom. As thy have never been to the land he rules, his scribes provided them a guide to his kingdom. It covered everything from geography and natural dangers to the political landscape. It was general but provided some fun hidden clues to the BBEG's motivation and to things they might run into on their adventures. Plus, I got to make a cool looking ancient book to hand out at the first session. It was a big hit.

I second this-any halfway Civilized world should have at least one "Generic guide to history, geography, etc" detailing the basics of the world and how it works. It does not have to be anything to incredible detail, but it should cover some basic things like a known map of the world, any major wars, kingdoms etc. Pick one text for every knowledge skill that covers basic stuff. You don't need to know the capital of every country, or what is the highest mountain in the world, but unless their character lived under a rock they should know the basics of their world.

[Theodred theOld]

My players were being followed by a sniper for nearly five session before they figured out what was going on. I kept dropping hints by describing his hawk companion and his arrows kept popping up in random creatures. Eventually they rolled a high enough spot check to see him but seeing them try to figure out why this stupid hawk kept following them around was priceless. When they caught up with him I made sure to mention the sigil on his gear that matched up with the BBEGs faction. It helped them to see how far reaching his influence was and let them know that he wasn't just going to wait around in some tower for them.

[Mendicant]

One thing to also remember is that if you're running your own table, you aren't limited to in-person exposition. Get a group wiki or a private Facebook group or some other shared platform and drop setting information there. Location vignettes, recaps, lore, that kind of thing. This let's you disseminate setting information without eating up gametime. Players who want more can go get it at their leisure, and players who don't aren't forced to.

I also recommend getting a flickr or Pinterest account and putting up relevant illustrations--monsters, NPCs, locations.

[ArlethVann]

I think the trouble is, I've probably gone a bit personal. The BBEG is an ex paladin turned Ur preist, because he devoted his life to the gods ect. was a very devout man, but all his family dies of disease, he was unable to cope and felt betrayed, thus turning on the gods and is out for revenge. I can't stand the idea of a villain who is evil just for the sake of it, it's what attracts me to characters like Darth Dader. I wanted to have a sense of tragedy about him, but was a little stumped as to how to get this across.

Thanks for all the fantastic ideas though guys, I appreciate it :)

[Surpriser]

In that case, let the players hear (or even better: experience) stories from the time before the BBEG fell. People might refuse to believe that he is evil now, when the party comes searching for him ("You must be mistaken! See what he did for us!"). In fact, trying to bring down the local hero might even earn them hostilities.

The BBEG could organize a raid of the cemetery where his loved ones are buried. Would it be in character to have him unearth an reanimate the bodies of his family? The PCs can examine the site and find out that all the missing corpses were related.

Yet another possibility: The BBEG could lead a personal vendetta against the church that was not able to prevent the disease and cure his loved ones. He might himself spread plagues among the priests, while proclaiming that now they see how that feels!

You see, there are lots of interesting ways to introduce this villains backstory without simply having a quest-giver NPC narrate it to the PCs.

[General Sajaru]

I like to give my players clues that they can interpret (as often as not, wrongly, but that's even more fun sometimes) to figure things out. For instance, in this case, as Surpriser mentions, have your BBEG target the people who were unable to save his family. Also, since he's an Ur-priest, he's against organized religion, so I'm betting he'd be trying to take them out (another clue). Finally, he probably loved his family a lot if he's rejected his faith over their deaths, so he might visit their graves and leave flowers (or something in that vein), potentially allowing the PCs to figure out who he is and giving them some insight into his thinking, should they discover the graves.