My opinion is that if it doesn’t happen at the table during play, I didn’t occur in the game or the story. Lore only becomes “real” when it comes up in play
That’s totally my approach. Stories are there to be uncovered (created) by play. Factions and individuals should have motivations, but everyone will have their own idea about a region’s history.
This is great. One idea I just had: what if we also tied faction moves to this table? „A faction advanced a goal” would be a list item, and you would then roll for faction and goal and think how them having reached it could manifest as an encounter.
Faction agendas are one of those things that usually happen in the background, and can therefore be wasted effort for the GM. I wonder where else we could put the design principle of your post (put stuff in the foreground, where players care).
This just helped me finally finish a really difficult solo ttrpg i’ve been working on for a year. I was so focused on writing out huge chunks of lore, hoping to provide a very immersive experience for players. I completely forgot that most of the fun is creating your own lore. Anyway, THANK YOU.
Coincidentally I've found myself doing exactly this when I prep. I limit myself to a one or two sentence "stage setter" just for myself in order to get my headspace in the theme, then go to town writing tables.
I've taken quite a bit of inspiration from ktrey from d4caltrops and start my tables with questions such as "What stalks the Woods of Ilendoor?" which is a fancy way of saying "Woodland area encoutner table". It lends to the flavor and keeps me in the game's fiction.
Another thing I've done, to reduce dice rolling and keep the game moving is finding areas that I can overload a roll. In the example encounter table above since you're using 2d6, and floatsam has the highest combination of numbers I make a side look up table with something like
Reflecting about my past tables I see it clearly. If you don't transform lore dump into actually interactable npc, items or encounter, this piece of lore doesn't exist. Ok, there is this king in the past pipipipopopo, if the players don't interact with this piece of information, this king doesn't exist and you could even rewrite all his lore or delete it completely
For those of us guilty of having, checking my notes now, approximately 100 pages of lore notes for my current game I think using all that lore to then make tables to make the lore more emergent. I have done this a little but this is definitely a reminder that I can make the tables first and be surprised as a GM about what comes up.
God this is great. Tables make DM life smooth and snappy. I feel like it’s incredibly common that the player’s initial idea upon receiving a sort of plot-hook is more interesting/relevant than your table result, and without having poured all your eggs in one basket, you have the freedom to explore that. Letting players make and influence lore (even if they’re not aware of it) is great.
I agree with you on this from a gaming perspective. I love tables, oracles, and anything else that adds randomness to the game and allows me to take a general setting and develop my own lore.
On the flip side, I do like reading lore dumps. I appreciate a well-considered, expansive lore explanation, but I don't find them particularly useful for gameplay. I think of them more as inspiration for my own ideas.
I never run a game on someone else's in-depth lore. I prefer my own worldbuilding. For gameplay, tables rule. Great article!
Thanks so much for reading! I agree- reading lore can be a lot of fun, and can be a key part of the process of understanding a world. I probably prefer the approach of Le Guin’s Always coming home, a set of short stories from within the fiction, but that’s doing a very different job really. I suppose with the article I was just thinking practically- I’m not going to read my players a 3 page overview, so how will lore impact them at the table- through things they encounter. How do I decide what they encounter? I roll on a table haha. So it’s just putting those ideas together.
I think that’s it, I enjoy offering ways to open stories up rather than closing possibilities down. Lore built at the table (inspired by tables!) is often the most memorable.
I appreciate this, I was going to write a story today, I’m going to try a table, part of it sounds so clinical & boring, it needs a different name. It’s like module & campaign, not correctly evocative, military language leftover from early war gaming.
Having these stacking tables is a great idea as it means that you can retain the same “top level” table and substitute the second tier tables depending on region or other shifts in the campaign world!
What’s your strategy for unused elements of the table? Specifically the NPCs, it seems like the details you use are just a starting place, but how often do you use your NPC table for multiple situations/sessions?
With NPCs I do like the serendipity of repeated rolls of the same one- relationships (good and bad) can start to form organically. But if there’s a town or situation where a certain NPC from the table would fit, I’m happy to have them turn up there, as they’ll be richer than a character I make up on the spot. However, I do try to let the randomness do its work as much as possible- given time, it often feels like a sort of magic.
Tying encounters to the session story and the location's background is always a wonderful, surefire way to share worldbuilding and breadcrumbs with the players. Good stuff!
My opinion is that if it doesn’t happen at the table during play, I didn’t occur in the game or the story. Lore only becomes “real” when it comes up in play
That’s totally my approach. Stories are there to be uncovered (created) by play. Factions and individuals should have motivations, but everyone will have their own idea about a region’s history.
I agree. It can all shift around until a PC learns about it.
This is great. One idea I just had: what if we also tied faction moves to this table? „A faction advanced a goal” would be a list item, and you would then roll for faction and goal and think how them having reached it could manifest as an encounter.
That’s a great idea! It could replace the 2 I think, and have shark and squid share a slot
Faction agendas are one of those things that usually happen in the background, and can therefore be wasted effort for the GM. I wonder where else we could put the design principle of your post (put stuff in the foreground, where players care).
This just helped me finally finish a really difficult solo ttrpg i’ve been working on for a year. I was so focused on writing out huge chunks of lore, hoping to provide a very immersive experience for players. I completely forgot that most of the fun is creating your own lore. Anyway, THANK YOU.
Coincidentally I've found myself doing exactly this when I prep. I limit myself to a one or two sentence "stage setter" just for myself in order to get my headspace in the theme, then go to town writing tables.
I've taken quite a bit of inspiration from ktrey from d4caltrops and start my tables with questions such as "What stalks the Woods of Ilendoor?" which is a fancy way of saying "Woodland area encoutner table". It lends to the flavor and keeps me in the game's fiction.
Another thing I've done, to reduce dice rolling and keep the game moving is finding areas that I can overload a roll. In the example encounter table above since you're using 2d6, and floatsam has the highest combination of numbers I make a side look up table with something like
1 1 A wooden pallet
1 2 plastic soda holder rings
...
2 1 a blown out tire
etc.
Oh I love that idea from ktrey. That’s such a useful way of staying in the world.
Reflecting about my past tables I see it clearly. If you don't transform lore dump into actually interactable npc, items or encounter, this piece of lore doesn't exist. Ok, there is this king in the past pipipipopopo, if the players don't interact with this piece of information, this king doesn't exist and you could even rewrite all his lore or delete it completely
Are Mermon a polygamous cult? I hope they are.
I love Tables. Especially big ones. D100s are my fave as mega resources and I can spend days in solo mixing and matching.
For those of us guilty of having, checking my notes now, approximately 100 pages of lore notes for my current game I think using all that lore to then make tables to make the lore more emergent. I have done this a little but this is definitely a reminder that I can make the tables first and be surprised as a GM about what comes up.
Yeah it makes it surprising and fun, even letting it define what an NPC might drop into conversation etc
God this is great. Tables make DM life smooth and snappy. I feel like it’s incredibly common that the player’s initial idea upon receiving a sort of plot-hook is more interesting/relevant than your table result, and without having poured all your eggs in one basket, you have the freedom to explore that. Letting players make and influence lore (even if they’re not aware of it) is great.
I agree with you on this from a gaming perspective. I love tables, oracles, and anything else that adds randomness to the game and allows me to take a general setting and develop my own lore.
On the flip side, I do like reading lore dumps. I appreciate a well-considered, expansive lore explanation, but I don't find them particularly useful for gameplay. I think of them more as inspiration for my own ideas.
I never run a game on someone else's in-depth lore. I prefer my own worldbuilding. For gameplay, tables rule. Great article!
Thanks so much for reading! I agree- reading lore can be a lot of fun, and can be a key part of the process of understanding a world. I probably prefer the approach of Le Guin’s Always coming home, a set of short stories from within the fiction, but that’s doing a very different job really. I suppose with the article I was just thinking practically- I’m not going to read my players a 3 page overview, so how will lore impact them at the table- through things they encounter. How do I decide what they encounter? I roll on a table haha. So it’s just putting those ideas together.
Good suggestion, the table offers possibilities, while lore is more finite, limited
I think that’s it, I enjoy offering ways to open stories up rather than closing possibilities down. Lore built at the table (inspired by tables!) is often the most memorable.
I appreciate this, I was going to write a story today, I’m going to try a table, part of it sounds so clinical & boring, it needs a different name. It’s like module & campaign, not correctly evocative, military language leftover from early war gaming.
Ah I’d love to see what you come up with!
Having these stacking tables is a great idea as it means that you can retain the same “top level” table and substitute the second tier tables depending on region or other shifts in the campaign world!
Yes, they can be really flexible and modular. I’m still thinking through all their possibilities.
What’s your strategy for unused elements of the table? Specifically the NPCs, it seems like the details you use are just a starting place, but how often do you use your NPC table for multiple situations/sessions?
With NPCs I do like the serendipity of repeated rolls of the same one- relationships (good and bad) can start to form organically. But if there’s a town or situation where a certain NPC from the table would fit, I’m happy to have them turn up there, as they’ll be richer than a character I make up on the spot. However, I do try to let the randomness do its work as much as possible- given time, it often feels like a sort of magic.
or write lore and tables? hmmm
Tying encounters to the session story and the location's background is always a wonderful, surefire way to share worldbuilding and breadcrumbs with the players. Good stuff!
Yo I think I’m gonna adapt this NPC table for my Black Crag games!! I like the depth of these watery wanderers so much!!