How do you use published settings?

[Lord Liaden]

I've seen quite a few posters to these boards assert that they enjoy creating their game worlds from scratch, or at least majorly tinkering with published settings, grafting ideas from other sources onto them, etc. I often get the impression that HERO gamers tend to do this more often than players who favor other game systems, but I've had no firm evidence to back this up.

Recently I stopped by www.rpg.net , and was a little startled by the result of their latest poll. To quote the question:

When evaluating a roleplaying game, what do you place the most importance on? What does a game need to have before you'll even consider looking at the game's other sections?

With over 700 votes cast, "Rich game world/setting" was the first priority of a whopping 67% of respondents - enough to persuade me that maybe this is the top priority of the majority of today's gamers. Aside from reassuring me that DoJ's setting book/support book strategy is a good business move , it also made me wonder whether HERO gamers really do buck the trend in this regard.

So, I thought I would ask: How do you use (or not use) a published game world for your campaigns? I should add that it's probably not necessary to account for settings of inferior quality; just those that you think are well done, regardless of how useful they are to you.

[zornwil]

I almost never get setting material and when I do I end up using very little of it, so that reinforces my disinclination to do so in the first place. There's no real specific reason I can put my finger on, most likely though it has to do with the fact that GMing is both a creative outlet as well as one where I really don't want to "follow rules" (rather ironic, yes, it probably explains my many house rules) as I need to at work.

But on rare occassion I do like buying and reading through settings and gleaming an idea or two.

[Lord Mhoram]

The poll you mention has a little bit of a different polling base. HERO players love to tinker, build and play. Other systems don't attract builders the way we do (in my, albiet, limited experience).
Think about RIFTS or the WOD. Setting over system.

I build my own worlds, and borrow what I want from published worlds. My current champs game has stuff from the old Champs universi (Lady Arcane and Dr McQuark from 3rd and before, and the classic champions from 4th) a lot from the new timeline, some San Angelo (well actually all of San Angelo- that is my West Coast city the way Millenium city and Vibora Bay have thier niche), and some of the characters from SAS. Plus some characters from older campaigns I'm backwriting in.

[allen]

I use published settings quite a bit... depending on genre, I'll add my own stuff (i.e., develop the city central to the campaign, do up character sheets for the PC group's arch-nemesis) but what I do add are almost exclusively elements that have an immediate impact on the game. I would much rather focus my efforts on those things, and on next week's game, than spend time developing a setting from ground-up.

Also, I think it's just plain easier and more effective for player-GM communication... if a player wants to know about the setting, he can go buy the book or borrow mine. Again, for me, it's a matter of where I want to spend my time.

Also (my second 'also'!) I'm a bit... err... protective of my own setting, far more so than a published one. I've noticed I sometimes become disappointed (unfairly, I admit) when players want to take the setting in a different direction mood/tone-wise that what I envisioned. Using a published setting makes me less stringent about various aspects of the setting, so I provide more "space" for the players.

And, of course, it depends on the genre... but supes, fantasy I go with
published settings.

[EDIT... Also (my third 'also'!) I wanted to add... I've lived in four different towns/cities in last 10 or so years. So I haven't been a long-standing member of any campaign in that time (a year or two here, a year or two there), which I think is detrimental to using one's own setting. Many, in my experience at least, are developed over an extended period of gaming, and have a "shared creation" aspect between the players and the GM -- which I think is very neat, but does require time to evolve.]

[Peregrine]

For me, as regards Champions specifically, it's a combination of 'roll my own' and 'use as published', so I went for 'tweak before running'. I have my own original city that I dropped into the CU and adjusted to fit. Plus I have added in the Chessmen organization. (http://www.mactyre.net/archives/chessmen/)

[Lord Liaden]

Originally posted by Lord Mhoram
The poll you mention has a little bit of a different polling base. HERO players love to tinker, build and play. Other systems don't attract builders the way we do (in my, albiet, limited experience).
Think about RIFTS or the WOD. Setting over system.

That's become something of a truism in our community, but most of the evidence in support of it is anecdotal. I wanted to apply a slightly more scientific test. Okay, I realize that this poll sample will be too small and uncontrolled to really be called "scientific", but it might be an interesting indicator. In any event, I've often heard the question of whether the vocal people who actually post on a forum like this are really reflective of the "silent majority", so putting that to the test could be interesting, too.

[nblade]

Originally posted by Lord Liaden

Recently I stopped by www.rpg.net , and was a little startled by the result of their latest poll. To quote the question:

When evaluating a roleplaying game, what do you place the most importance on? What does a game need to have before you'll even consider looking at the game's other sections?

I took at look at the poll. I can see why the first is the largest number. When I look at the other choices, I find that if I was choose one of those as most important, then it would likely be the setting. I mean here where the choices.

1) Rich Game World/Setting
2) Quick Conflict Resolution/Combat - I usually don't choose a game for this reason.
3) Realistic Conflict Resolution/Combat - Again I don't usually choose a gam for this myself. Notice there is no middle ground choice.
4) Unique Genre - I dare somebody to show me a unique genre, Guess I just don't see too many really unique ones. This sometimes would have me not buy a game. After all what is the point, if you can't find players to play with or a GM. (This reminds me of a scene in a games store, one person exclaimed that the new Rifts supplement was out, and the guy next to him asked if he knew anyone that plays. The first guy replied no and aske the guy who asked him the same thing.)
5) Familiar License - Since I come for the dark ages of RPGing, I guess I don't really have license loalty for the most part. If a game is good, it does matter who makes it.
6) Detailied Character creation - I think this would have to depend on the game in question. I'm not sure you can ask this question by itself. If the game is suppose to be quick and fun, then this item is moot.
7) Known Author - This has some weight with me, but not a lot. I've seen good authors produce crap and crap authors have one good book. So while I tend to go with authors I know, its not the most important.
8) Established Product Line - This item has some merit, but its not really completely important. I have many many games that are not from an established product line. Still If you play one game, you likely to buy supplements from the same line. I know some people that buy products in a line, just to be a completist. (I don't know why)
9)Excellent presentation/Artwork - While this always helps, I personally don't like much of the so called modern atwork or game system art styles.

So what does that leave you with, oh rich background/world setting for a GM to modify or steal from.

There seems to be a real lack of choice is the poll. I mean where is the clear and understandable rule system, That wouuld have been my number one choice.

[Tech]

Unless you don't have a game world established for a campaign you intend to run, a game world is simultaneously restricting and freeing. It gives you new ideas, possibly new worlds to view. At the same time, if you have a current campaign, whether Fantasy, Superheroic or otherwise, a new game world can't possibly fit into yours exactly as presented. When it comes to a module for a particular genre, in this case I'll pick Champions, there are ideas and suggestions how to implement the adventure. In some cases, as I've run across, the very suggestions they give - I use as a red herring for fun, often for laughs... then, I use my own idea how to continue on with the adventure. I like to take ideas, whole portions at a time or at other times, bit parts, and insert them into the current campaign. Does that make the module useless? Not at all! It gave me creativity I might not think of otherwise and most likely, ideas for a few more episodes or an entire series to come.

[TheEmerged]

When it comes to published material, I'm a ruthless scavenger. My current superheroic campaign, the "NeoChampion Universe", has substantial elements lifted from...

• 4th Edition Champions (especially CLOWN, Sanctuary/Neutral Ground, and the Sentinels from Champions of the North)
• Aberrant (primarily the terminology -- nova, nova powers, "Teragen" as the group of novas that think they're above human law, T2M as the UN Superteam, Project Utopia as the UN research group...)
• Brave New World (especially its *cough* more realistic treatment of how people would react to a super-power registration act, the idea that most novas (6 in 7) are in fact quite low-powered & specialized enough for them to be classified, the existance of a "Defiant" organization that has imploded due to a lack of proper leadership). The destruction of Detroit was also more devastating to the nova community in terms of the lose of "big guns" than seems true in the official Champions Universe. Also, the remains of Detroit are commonly called "Crescent City" as it rolls off the tongue easier :-)
• DC & Marvel Universes. No trivial number of the "good guy" writeups (the players take the role of villains) are actually one-offs of established characters in the official universes. The Justice Battalion, for example, is in many ways a SuperFriends knockoff (based out of the Union Terminal in Cincinnati, AKA the Hall of Justice to everyone of the appropriate age that has seen it). Flying Squirrel = Batman, Baethan Electrum = Booster Gold, Khan = Bowser, Power Twins = Wonder Twins (actual writeups are biased toward Gamid & Gavid from CRUX in the Crossgen Universe), Victory = Wonder Woman, and so on.
• I'm using the aliens and galactic map from my previous Alternity campaign -- I have so much material, I might as well use it

[Ghost Archer]

In the beginning, 1982, I was a child of AD&D and the easy availability of AD&D modules. When I switched forever to Champions and Hero, I naturally gravitated toward published settings. As my campaign world grew I added more and more of my own work. As Hero added stuff, I fitted it into place in the mosaic of my campaign. Some things I changed very little, others I modified drastically. Now I have a co-GM and over the last two years she's added her imagination to my world and given more depth to parts of my work.
My campaign is a growing, living thing, old enough to drink legally now and one that will continue to incorporate published material, modified, of course..

[MarkusDark]

The thing about having a fully created world given to you is that people can find little tidbits that they like and develop from there. In Forgotten Realms, I love the idea of the Divine Seekers. And, by having it in the world already, the referee has plenty of resource material with which to help expand upon it. There is no conversion trouble with the player envisioning it one way, the GM another and the rest of the players a third. It is all in Black and White. In fact, just by mentioning the Divine Seekers, many people who read this post will be "Oh, I know about them...".

I try to keep my worlds I create to having only a handful of organizations in them. Right now, I have players who have put their backgrounds into those groups and I have fleshed them out so much that it takes no time for people to pick up on them. I have also had a player tell me his character is from "x" group which is hunting him. I don't know anything other than they are 'ego power using assassins'. I have to try and create agents and villians for the group and hope they come up to the players ideas.

[Dynamo]

I disassemble published settings for everything I'd like to drop into my own setting and leave the gutted wreck to rot in the backyard.

See my Cannibal Comics campaign page for an example.

[keithcurtis]

Originally posted by Dynamo
I disassemble published settings for everything I'd like to drop into my own setting and leave the gutted wreck to rot in the backyard.

See my Cannibal Comics campaign page for an example.

Interesting setting. It sounds like there are enough "differences from the expected" and "mysteries to explore" to fill many adventures.

Keith "Superman sounds kind of dark, though" Curtis

[Dynamo]

Originally posted by keithcurtis
Interesting setting. It sounds like there are enough "differences from the expected" and "mysteries to explore" to fill many adventures.

Keith "Superman sounds kind of dark, though" Curtis

Thanks. Answers to mysteries is one of the themes I've used to keep the players interested in the long term. The fate of Superman (the original), the nature of superpowers, what's with the aliens, and others.

The new Superman is supposed to come off as kind of dark. I don't plan to reveal what he's up to for a long time. The PCs in my newly relaunched campaign aren't even close to the right power level for that yet. That datum should raise more questions about the fate of the original Superman, which should raise more questions about the nature of superpowers, which should raise more questions about extraterrestrial and extradimensional xenosapients, which should... aah, you get the idea.

[lemming]

Originally posted by Dynamo
I disassemble published settings for everything I'd like to drop into my own setting and leave the gutted wreck to rot in the backyard.

As long as you don't toss it over the fence into the next yard. :P

I'm pretty much work under the same guidelines. I have bits taken from Champions, GURPS IST, GURPS Black Ops, other GURPS, Golden Age Hero, Warhammer, Buffy, San Angelo, various science fiction, history, & fantasy books, a shared universe from my college days, and quite a bit more. It's still a work in progress since I'm changing some of it on the fly for the player's benefit. You can see the latest by following the non-cat link below.