What should a setting book focus on?

[PhoenixPhyre]

I have a setting. It's currently being used for D&D 5e, but departs rather heavily from the stock assumptions (especially metaphysically) and isn't incredibly tied to that system's mechanics. It's currently written up in wiki form, piecemeal, mostly as my notes about things.

I have a (faint, idle) dream of actually publishing it as an actual setting.

With that preface, but not limited to that set of facts,

What should, in your opinion, a setting-level book focus on? Whether it's for a single small part of a much larger setting (such as a hypothetical "New New Delhi" setting for a WW product or Shadowrun or a "All about Sharn" book for Eberron, etc) or introducing an entirely new isolated setting (such as a Forgotten Realms book for D&D, etc), where should it spend its time? What are the important things for you? What do you look for?

Player-facing mechanical options (which inherently locks it to a game system)?
Higher-level descriptions of nations, cities, regions, religions, metaphysics, etc?
Suggested plot hooks?
NPCs?
Pretty pictures?

What level of detail would you want (ranging from "here's a map with a bunch of names on it, fill in the rest yourself" down to "here is the entire population, with vital statistics and daily routines for every small village in this one region")?

I'm assuming that level of detail and breadth of focus are going to be in tension--going into nitty-gritty detail on a world-scale book is very different than doing so on a book focusing on one neighborhood in a big city.

[NichG]

I have a setting. It's currently being used for D&D 5e, but departs rather heavily from the stock assumptions (especially metaphysically) and isn't incredibly tied to that system's mechanics. It's currently written up in wiki form, piecemeal, mostly as my notes about things.

I have a (faint, idle) dream of actually publishing it as an actual setting.

With that preface, but not limited to that set of facts,

What should, in your opinion, a setting-level book focus on? Whether it's for a single small part of a much larger setting (such as a hypothetical "New New Delhi" setting for a WW product or Shadowrun or a "All about Sharn" book for Eberron, etc) or introducing an entirely new isolated setting (such as a Forgotten Realms book for D&D, etc), where should it spend its time? What are the important things for you? What do you look for?

Player-facing mechanical options (which inherently locks it to a game system)?
Higher-level descriptions of nations, cities, regions, religions, metaphysics, etc?
Suggested plot hooks?
NPCs?
Pretty pictures?

What level of detail would you want (ranging from "here's a map with a bunch of names on it, fill in the rest yourself" down to "here is the entire population, with vital statistics and daily routines for every small village in this one region")?

I'm assuming that level of detail and breadth of focus are going to be in tension--going into nitty-gritty detail on a world-scale book is very different than doing so on a book focusing on one neighborhood in a big city.

Hm... so my gut instinct disagrees with my history here.

When I was running Planescape, the setting books I got the absolute most use out of were In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil that just had a bunch of representative businesses and organizations associated with each ward, and Uncaged: Faces of Sigil which had something like 20 NPCs, their plans, and their interconnections and relationships within the larger context of things - not the 'mandatory to have an NPC because this faction has a leader' types of NPCs, but odd and weird people and their stories.

I would not guess that a bunch of random businesses and non-fixture NPCs would have been the most useful thing to me, but there it is...

That aside, I think the thing where my gut and experience can agree is that highlighting hooks, mysteries, levers upon which things could turn are useful. That doesn't mean answer the mystery, but just say something like 'here's this town and of late a merchant has been bringing a lot of high value luxury goods there, wonder why?' or 'here's this city, but the taverns all close from 9pm to 10pm every night, and do so strictly'.

Things that give you a way to understand what's important, and what's distinct are good I think. And I like maps in general, I think they're more evocative than text if done right.

For the system-specific mechanical options, I'd say sure but only those options that change some kind of core assumption about the status quo of the world. E.g. 'people from Bundestag can take this feat and get a +2 to attack wolves' does not qualify. But 'people from Bundestag have access to a special kind of Pact magic that allows even amateur practitioners to call upon an external force to bring about a large effect at commensurate cost' should get some detail.

[stoutstien]

A slightly intangible factor is a combination of art and text that quickly set the tone, theme, and other abstract things that make settings unique.

Doesn't have to be some epic sonnet but I like something that frames the players/DMs expectations and how the relate to the setting in the first 1-5 pages.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by PhoenixPhyre
What are the important things for you? What do you look for?


- Higher-level descriptions of nations, cities, regions, religions, metaphysics, etc?

This is a major draw for me. I want a top-down overview of the continent(s) where the action will be taking place, in terms of the landforms, the realms, the cultures and their beliefs.

This gives me a sense of the setting’s scope—and its ability to handle that scope—as well as possible broad-scale themes and storylines to be considering. It also helps me see more readily how the setting differs from others in terms of its design, assumptions, etc.



- Player-facing mechanical options (which inherently locks it to a game system)?

This is trickier. Prior to developing my own settings, the campaign setting I’ve used the most is the 3.0 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, followed by Pathfinder’s Inner Sea World Guide. Both of them have player-facing mechanics, but I ended up using the books in completely different ways.

For the FRCS, I used very little of the actual mechanics, but relied extensively on the book for geography and lore. The FRCS was my first introduction to the Forgotten Realms, with fascination and wonder aplenty, and I loved it for that. As clunky as it can sometimes be, for me it captured the feeling of discovering a new and genuinely magical world.

The ISWG, by contrast, I’ve used almost exclusively for mechanics, with virtually no reference to its very superficial coverage of Golarion’s rather unimaginative regions. Much as I love Pathfinder as a system, I deeply dislike Golarion. The ISWG has its moments, but the world in which they’re embedded never much spoke to me.

For reasons thoroughly covered at the start of this year, a system-independent setting feels like a good choice these days; and yet many players, myself included, have been taught to expect setting-specific mechanics, to the point that a setting book without them would feel incomplete. Really not sure what the best answer is here.



- Suggested plot hooks?
- NPCs?

These are nice to have, and I’d say that well-sketched NPCs breathe life into the setting; but I would see these as secondary, especially the plot hooks.



- Pretty pictures?

I’ve been looking through a lot of old Kalamar material recently, and gawd that art. The goofy little line drawings have a certain classic charm, but the better the artwork, the richer the feel of the setting.

That said, finding quality art that’s available for this sort of publication seems next to impossible. The sort of artists I’d like to engage, e.g. Jenny Dolfen or Gregory Manchess, are operating at a level far out of reach, and I don’t know how to even begin finding a promising young artist who’d still be affordable.



Originally Posted by PhoenixPhyre
What level of detail would you want…?

I'm assuming that level of detail and breadth of focus are going to be in tension--going into nitty-gritty detail on a world-scale book is very different than doing so on a book focusing on one neighborhood in a big city.

The approach I’m taking in my own setting is to provide a broad-scale description of empires and cultures, with a detailed focus on specific locales that could be interesting sites for adventuring. This tends to follow the particular spots I felt inspired to write up in detail; it’s a compromise between the broader historical overviews which I enjoy, and the highly detailed interpersonal dynamics which I also enjoy.

.

[Thane of Fife]

I would say that the primary purpose of a setting book is inspiration - the GM should think, "Oh that gives me a cool idea for an adventure" and players should think, "Oh, that gives me a neat idea for a character." The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to present a lot of things that are some level of interesting and either explicitly connect them together or leave them close enough to rub up against each other.

Things and people and places aren't interesting in themselves; it's the ways in which they intersect that is interesting.

[catagent101]

I would say that the primary purpose of a setting book is inspiration - the GM should think, "Oh that gives me a cool idea for an adventure" and players should think, "Oh, that gives me a neat idea for a character." The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to present a lot of things that are some level of interesting and either explicitly connect them together or leave them close enough to rub up against each other.

Things and people and places aren't interesting in themselves; it's the ways in which they intersect that is interesting.

Yeah I agree with this. I think sometimes people think a setting book has to be an encyclopedia and end up writing a bunch of filler that really could have been cut.

I also personally have a soft spot for setting material with weird and otherwise otherworldly locales that feel well thought out.


This one is borderline obvious, but the other thing a setting book should focus on is what it's corresponding game(s) focus on, like how would an adventurer fit into your setting for example. This doesn't have to be plot hooks (especially if you don't have any interesting ideas for those), I mean more like a general feel of what stuff you can D&D in your setting.

[Pauly]

I think the first thing is that it should give the vibe that this is a cool place to have adventures in.

Second there should be enough blank spaces for the GM to fill in.
For NPCs - hidden connections, secret alliances, a tragic love affair, whatever it may be should be left to the GM.
For organizations - dark secrets, hidden history, sly plans should be left to the GM.
If the setting has all of these kind of things explained in detail already it makes it difficult for GMs to bring their own stories to life.
For campaign books I’m all for all these details to be pre-filled in, but for a setting book I want it looser.
As NichG said, mysteries/local idiosyncrasies that can be engaged with are a great source of this type of material. For example as a writing exercise I’m doing a setting book for an urban fantasy type game, and one of the things I have is that there are several abandoned mines close to the town. I’m deliberately just giving some locations and mine layouts with no other details. That way the GM can use them for anything they choose - werewolf lair, secret government surveillance base, safe house for the PCs, hideout for a criminal gang etc.

Thirdly enough detail for the world to feel lived in. Again the scope of the game will affect what details are needed.

Good illustrations and maps make a great help.

[Telok]

I'm actually working on a setting right now in the style of in-setting short wiki articles on places. There's a basic format at the start for the "how far away" then a sort of local conditions & warnings. Finally is a small text block with just sort of the interesting description of the place, maybe a mention of an npc or two. There's an advert in there somewhere, a plea for a curse removal, and several "for more info contect so-and-so at <method>".

It's not an actual wiki, that would be extra bother. The players will have to look at the big map and ctrl-f or something. In the end it'll be a pdf with one 1/8th to 1/4 pic per two facing pages (in case someone has a viewer set to book style display).

The whole idea is enough hard info that I can figure how long and hard the trip from A to B is and a broad outline of what's there. Then a bit of what the in-setting people think is interesting or useful. So there's a couple bits of contradictory advice, a couple places it mentions you can bribe the cops, a bit of snark once in a while, and a few good resturant recommendations. Like improv prompts in a way, something to riff off of.

[False God]

Cities, kingdoms, geography, flora & fauna, notable people. Pretty pictures are always a plus, since simple descriptions don't always convey things properly IMO, and it can be a lot easier to draw a setting map, than attempt to describe it (unless the goal is more one of "place these world elements wherever your choose).

[Satinavian]

Player-facing mechanical options (which inherently locks it to a game system)?I general like mechanics in seperate books, not in setting books. The general need for them depends a lot on how fitting the setting and the systm are in the first place. I don't care for diferentiating player and GM facing mechanics though. Those are rules that define how things are different from other settings, that is relevant for everyone.


Higher-level descriptions of nations, cities, regions, religions, metaphysics, etc?That would indeed be the main Point. Tht is what setting books should be about.

Suggested plot hooks?
NPCs?
Pretty pictures?
All nice to have but not essential.

What level of detail would you want (ranging from "here's a map with a bunch of names on it, fill in the rest yourself" down to "here is the entire population, with vital statistics and daily routines for every small village in this one region")?

I'm assuming that level of detail and breadth of focus are going to be in tension--going into nitty-gritty detail on a world-scale book is very different than doing so on a book focusing on one neighborhood in a big city.The appropriate detail is indeed dependant on the scope. I have repeatedly bought and enjoyed setting books with large regions in combination with other, more detailed ones focussing on a small part of it.

However, when the detail s so low it reaches "fill in yourself", i won't buy a setting book. I certainly don't need other people to paint a map. On the other hand a small scale detailed book is only interesting if i actually care about this small part and want to play there.

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I have a (faint, idle) dream of actually publishing it as an actual setting.

Could you tell us in a couple of sentences why this setting should be interesting and worth switching over to ?

There is not exactly a lack of settings in the tabletop space. And as third party you won't compete against only the official D&D ones.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Could you tell us in a couple of sentences why this setting should be interesting and worth switching over to ?

There is not exactly a lack of settings in the tabletop space. And as third party you won't compete against only the official D&D ones.

I'll note that I specifically said "faint, idle". Publishing it for anyone else is way down the list of things I'm doing. And it's entirely a labor of love; even if I published it I'd not expect to actually make money on it.

So the question is more "what would people find useful and interesting if they picked up a setting book."

The request you pose, however, is a key one to answer, I think, for a published (or would-be published) setting. Having an elevator pitch of "here's what this setting is about and why it's cool."

It's something I'd have to think about how I'd phrase for someone else. For me, personally, this setting is an outgrowth of trying to make things fit. To have grounding for why things work the way they do. So that I can effortlessly answer questions that players pose as to "can I X" or "what about Y", and thus create a "living-appearing" world. One where everything fits together.

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Thinking more about this general question, it seems there are a few disparate (but possibly overlapping) uses for setting books.

1. I'm running a campaign in setting X and need information. Effectively a "preparation helper/framework" to take the load off the DM for custom campaigns. Probably needs the most specifics and plot hooks.

2. I'm tooling up to run a campaign and am looking for pieces to pull, although I don't plan to use a setting directly. This is the "crib for setting elements" version. Having modular chunks that can be pulled out helps here. Not my favorite mode because it breaks things out of their context, and context is key for me personally. But YMMV.

3. I'm looking for inspiration generally as I worldbuild, but I'm not planning to pull details without heavy remixing. This is the mode I'm most often in--I know what world I'm working in. And I'm not going to pull NPCs, towns, or even plot hooks directly. But aesthetics? Patterns? Concepts and explanations? Absolutely. Here, being evocative and interesting is more important than the details.

Are there others?

[Oramac]

What should, in your opinion, a setting-level book focus on?

Thanks for posting this. I'm loving the responses. Especially...


I would say that the primary purpose of a setting book is inspiration - the GM should think, "Oh that gives me a cool idea for an adventure" and players should think, "Oh, that gives me a neat idea for a character."

...this. This really resonates with me. Once one gets past all the BS, at the end of the day, we're looking for something that we can imagine and build on.

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To further the discussion, I'll ask, how does everyone feel about the setting books we have? Here I'm primarily thinking of Eberron: Rising from the Last War, The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, and Tal'dorei Reborn. But all the setting books count.

What did they do right? What did they do wrong? What was interesting, but not useful? Or inspirational?