THE GAMEMASTER #14: Setting the Scene

Welcome to another installment of The Gamemaster! For those who don’t know, this is my weekly column to discuss things I’ve learned or noticed in my sojourn to become a halfway decent Pathfinder Gamemaster.

For me, coming into the game as a writer, I knew I wanted to create my own world and stories with the collaboration of the player’s I’m gaming with. The different worlds and realms set aside for other fantasy roleplaying games all seemed fine and dandy, but I was confident that I could create a place where all of my players would have a background that would cause some truly fun gaming.

I chose to create the kingdom of St. Argon. It’s a coastal territory with mountains to the north and a river as the border to the east side. There is plenty of territory to explore beyond the kingdom, but I wanted a place where we could have enough adventures together so that we didn’t exactly have to travel much further for danger.

When putting together the world, I wanted my players to have enough context from the get go so they could figure out what they wanted their character to be and how they wanted their character to fit into the idea for the campaign I had (and presented to them.)

Here’s that first document I wrote and printed out for each of them on our first day, then read aloud before our first session began:

It is a dark time for the kingdom of St. Argon. Sitting on the throne is a man named Wulfric that many believe to be in league with forces of the underworld. He’s increased the taxes across the land, instituted martial law with checkpoints everywhere, and has even outlawed the use of magic. Many believe the restrictions have been put in place because the whereabouts of the deposed king, Robert the Goblin-slayer, are unknown. Some think he fled the kingdom, others believe him dead. Still others believe he’s hiding inside, slowly gathering supporters, and working to recapture the throne.

There are still a few strongholds scattered across the northern parts of St. Argon, away from the coastal capital of Argonan, that are loyal to king Robert and Wulfric’s army is slowly marching to them, snuffing out their defiance one by one and unifying his new kingdom.

The political situation abroad is every bit as challenging. To the west and south is the sea, where strangers from foreign lands come and go, but they’ve been increasingly more hostile and less willing to trade since Wulfric began his reign and enacted more and more tariffs on their goods. To the north are forests mountains which take months to cross before reaching the kingdoms of Dwarves, Orcs, and Goblins to the north. Little news and trade from parts north trickle down to St. Argon and few seem interested in anything but trade with the mountainous dwarves. If one travels far enough to the east, they will cross a number of rivers, halfling towns, and wilderness territories until they come to the arid desert of the Turqs and the Archduchy of Ashiq Hassan. Archduke Hassan has remained neutral in matters concerning the Kingdom of St. Argon.

There’s enough information there for them to know where they fall in the grand scheme of things and to know that the kingdom they’re in is going through some problems.

One group I’m playing in this world is tasked with rallying the free people in the unconquered portions of the land. The other group is tasked with building a resistance in the capitol city of Argonan. I can’t tell you which game is more fun, they’re both exhilerating for totally different reasons.

But I’ve got a lot more in my head about the world than the sheet I created. I’ve been brainstorming many myths, legends, bits of political intrigue, and anything else you can think of to slowly dole them out every session. When characters ask questions or seek to take a knowledge roll, I let them in on a little bit more about the world and its history.

Over time it builds a context and a set of rules for your world and what your characters can expect. And when you bring new players in, it’s fascinating to see how the world is described by the more veteran players. If you’ve done your job well, you can see the excitement in their eyes when they’re describing the world as though they’ve been there and lived it.

As a Gamemaster, that’s a very good portion of your job: make the players feel as though they’re living in the world. But you can’t do that unless you know the world yourself. As a regular exercise, ask yourself what questions you think a player might ask about the world and answer it. Take notes about your answers and have them ready to refer to. I guarantee it makes the players feel a lot more confident about the game and less likely to argue with you about things. You put on that air of knowledge and they can sense they’re in the hands of someone who knows the ins and outs of the world as well as anyone could.

If they see you struggling to reach for details, they’ll pick up on that and they’ll play accordingly.

So, the take away is this: whether the world is one of your creation or one of someone else’s creation, know it by heart, forwards and backwards. There should be no excuse for being unable to answer any reasonable question.

And when in doubt, fake it. Sometimes they still won’t know the difference.

Until next time, I hope this has given you something to think about it for your own game. If it hasn’t, see more pieces in this series for inspiration.