With Spectres of Usarm fastly approaching (play-by-post is slow in starting but the cover art and first round of editing are done) I find myself biting my nails in nerviousness. With Spectres of Usarm some big revelations about the world of Usarm are revealed that (if used as a setting/world) will change the players’ view of the entire world they inhabit.
This got me thinking, wheat are the expections of a a fantasy? Obviously everyone has their own unique ideas and wants when going into an rpg game, but on some Campbellian (I made that word up!) level we as a sub-culture must have an underlining or at least overlapping desire from a fantast game.
For me the feeling of being a part of the fantasy world and the thrill of exploring it are what I crave. In some ways this comes out in the adventures I design, in some ways it doesn’t … I’m the player who wants to see new vistas, delve into those dungeons not for power, glory, gold or honor but to see what it looks like and experience it.
The thrill of finding something unexpected drives me forward in games … and that is what I’m worrying about right now. Near the end of the adventure the players stumble upon something I’ve hinted at in this blog (and the cover of Joy in a Flask) before about the Usarm setting. To this point I’ve been vague, but Spectres pretty much slaps the players in the face with it (and is one of the reasons Spectres stretches my self-imposed defination of 2-page adventure).
So gamers, referees and loves of fantasy and science fiction what are your expections of a fantasy world and how does new information that chnages that world affect you?
One thought on “Quick Note – Expections of a Fantasy World”
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I expect to be entertained with a certain suspension of disbelief where the fantasy setting in grounded in a logical framework. Exposition without the information dump.
Changes should either keep the setting recognizable (if its meant to continue on as a series), or end the setting all together. None of this "blow up the world" every few years like what happens to, say, Forgotten Realms with each new edition or all of those "zero hours" in the comic book universe.