Timeline for How can I deliver in-universe written lore to players without it being dry exposition?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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| Mar 1, 2019 at 17:09 | history | edited | GcL | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Mar 1, 2019 at 9:24 | comment | added | JDM7 | I often use something similar to what @V2Blast said about PCs remembering. If they are from or have lived in the setting for a while they would know things so when the players encounter something (a place, a specific object, etc.) for the first time I will drop extra information, for example they come to a bridge that crosses the large bisecting river I'll add something like: "you recall stories from your childhood of how this bridge was built by the giants during the ancient war in order for them to lay siege to the south" | |
| Mar 1, 2019 at 5:53 | comment | added | Harm van den Brand | As others said, this reminds me of Dark Souls, which I absolutely loved. +1 | |
| Mar 1, 2019 at 5:52 | vote | accept | Harm van den Brand | ||
| Mar 1, 2019 at 2:30 | comment | added | David Coffron | @Kevin very good point. Nothing against ESs. Have always loved them | |
| Mar 1, 2019 at 2:29 | comment | added | Kevin | @David: Elder Scrolls gets away with it by making the books genuinely interesting as stories, by not making them too long, and most importantly by being single player (so the player needn't worry about boring other players, or conversely about interrupting mid-story if it's not their cup of tea). Obviously the latter is a nonstarter for (most) tabletop games. | |
| Feb 28, 2019 at 18:32 | comment | added | V2Blast | In addition to being delivered by NPCs, PCs themselves could "remember" such lore when they (for instance) examine something and the DM calls for a History check to determine how much they know about the ancient conflict it was involved in (or an Arcana check, for lore about magic items and such). | |
| Feb 28, 2019 at 17:14 | comment | added | David Coffron | +1 for this being exactly how the video game RPGs that are best at establish their lore do it. Small tidbits rather than having to read large expository things (so Dark Souls > Elder Scrolls for lore delivery) | |
| Feb 28, 2019 at 15:44 | history | edited | GcL | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 28, 2019 at 15:37 | history | answered | GcL | CC BY-SA 4.0 |