Comments on: Distilled Cultural Essence – Part 4 of 4: Expressing a different society, Section 3

By: the uruk hai

the uruk hai — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 06:37:09 +0000

[...] … VDL is serious about being the best dodgeball league in not just Vancouver, but in the …Distilled Cultural Essence Part 4 of 4: Expressing a …This is the final part of a four-part article. The first part gave a relatively straightforward [...]

By: Paul singleton

Paul singleton — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:50:18 +0000

Good article. I suppose most of this stuff is very logical when you sit down and think about it, which you obviously did. You show that a few simple ideas and some preperation can bring an extra level of depth to a campaign.
Thanks

By: Mike Bourke

Mike Bourke — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:06:42 +0000

@ Wimwick: Yes, detail can be lost on players; but it’s even more likely to happen if the DM simply recites a bunch of bald statements. That’s why the emphasis is on aspects that the characters can, and probably will, interact with – eventually. And keeping the list prioritised to things that make a tangible difference to what the PCs experience that’s different to their norm helps eliminate unneccessary work. “All killer, no filler” as the saying goes.

@ Johnn: Thanks, Johnn. I put a lot of effort into choosing not only pics that expressed different cultures, just to show some of the variety that exists here on earth, but that did so in ways that were relevant to the content of each blog.

By: Johnn

Johnn — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:14:26 +0000

@Wimwick: good call on info getting lost on players. However, it’s wonderful to have in your back pocket for winging-it. In addition, you can always take your best hidden content and look for ways to surface it in-game.

I also think all the extra info adds a wonderful weight to a game, something the players can sense, especially in the roleplay of NPCs.

On a tangential note, those are awesome pics you chose for the series, Mike!

By: Wimwick

Wimwick — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:46:22 +0000

This is a great article, you touch on many aspects of design that are often overlooked. However, the inclusion of social practices, diet, and commerce can make the setting that much more real. One of the dangers in going into such detail is that it might be lost on the players. I know that's happened to me more than once. I also believe that there is information that the DM needs to know, because he needs to understand how that society functions. The PCs often don't require such depth of detail. Your use of LotR is a great way of demonstrating that master storytellers don't overwhelm their audience with information. Rather, they give them just enough to keep them wanting more. Wimwick’s last blog post..Skill Challenge: Information Gamble