At Shadomain we love having discussions with anyone interested in games and having more fun. We’ll suggest interesting topics for discussion in our groups and publish comments here and talk about them in our YouTube channel. Check out this week’s show here. If you want to add some comments to our discussions, join our private email group by sending an email to sh**********@***il.com or join our Discord.
The Topic: Players Input to the World in a TTRPG?
How do you feel about players having input into the world building of a TTRPG? Perhaps in a fantasy game a player can create a city, God or lore. What about games such as Kids on Bikes where the game begins with the players answering questions about their hometown? How about Brindlewood Bay where the mystery doesn’t have a single correct solution, the solution depends on how the players put clues together (and if they roll well)?
Our guest on the show is Jason Cordova from The Gauntlet. Jason is the creator of TTRPGs like Brindlewood Bay, and other games that are “Carved From Brindlewood” such as The Between and Beach Blanket Bodybag, and the upcoming The Lands Remaining. These games invite the players in to contribite to the world outside their characters, so we asked Jason about it.
Some Cool Responses
I think players partnership in world-building leads to a more vibrant and living world, and one that the players can immerse in more fully. If only to describe their favorite tavern, the park they hangout in, or the street they walk down.
Mama Strange
I always leave room in my worldbuilding for the players to elaborate or specify. Whether that’s a hometown they thought up and populated, or an NPC they decided they should have a background with (either on character creation, or suddenly during a session like “I think I should know this bartender.”) My world exists and is full enough to have an adventure, but always feels much more real and lived-in when the players have say and are allowed to fill in the gaps.
Sir James
I’ve been creating my own world setting. I have come up with a lot of world lore and information about how things work in this world. I have even created my own pantheon of gods, some of which I have come up with interesting stories for and others only have a name and domain of influence. My plan is to let my players help me flesh out the rest of the world lore and god stories through game play. That gives me freedom to create things in this world “as needed” in a way. For instance. if a player chooses to be a cleric of a god that I haven’t come up with their story yet, I can let the player help shape that gods story. After that, it becomes canon and that is the god from then on. I think it will be a fun way to create a world, especially if you and your friends are going to hopefully play ion that world for a long time. I think it gives the world creation some spontaneity and help the players feel more invested in the world itself.
Chernabog42
Great answers, everyone! Here’s another way to look at it. In a game where you’re snooping in a house, the gm tells you you’ve entered a small study, and on the top shelf of a bookshelf you see something that is out of place. They ask you “What is it?” Do you feel
- ” cool, i get to help build the story!”
Or
- “I don’t know! You’re the gm, you tell ME what’s on the dang shelf!”
Jason from Shadomain.com
One of my favorite ways to play is to let each player contribute a truth about the world that everyone kows, and then I as a GM contribute 3. Then, during play, I will often ask them for details about how a scene communicates a certain mood, feeling, or fact to them. Also had a lot of fun with the area generation procedures from Perilous Wilds
The Merlitron
As a player, I think that I might feel like there isn’t a right answer to that. (The GM asks you “What is it?) I might say that it’s a powerful artifact, but I would be worried that’s too much. I might say it’s just a small trinket, but then did I just sell myself short? I might even say it’s the McGuffin that we’ve been looking for, but then did I just deprive myself and the party of a cooler more interesting way that we were supposed to find it. I know that as a DM you probably wouldn’t ask unless you weren’t too worried about it, but I know that is how my mind would work
Chernabog42
I generally feel (” cool, i get to help build the story!”)
Sir James
And I think my players would agree.
I do it often enough, but I try to strike that balance between helping the players feel like co-authors in the story, and shirking too much GM responsibility to the players.
If done well, it’s sort of like skipping the disappointment of a misunderstanding, and cut to exactly what the players want, when sometimes they might be coy or vague.
I think as long as the GM sets the expectation that it’s OK for the player to pass on coming up with the thing, or passing it to another player, then you can alleviate consternation over being put on the spot.
The Merlitron
Wrapping It Up
It seems like your opinion on this somewhat depends on your TTRPG experience. If you’re coming directly from games where the GM builds the world and the players explore it, things like the above suggestions might seem jarring.
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