There’s usually a wide gap between the GM’s concept of their setting and the players’ understanding of it. Often, game moderators attempt to bridge this gap by inviting players to roll up characters, thinking they’ll come away with an appreciation for what the setting is all about. But it’s a doomed assumption unless expectations are clear: When it comes to setting information, most GMs are thinking timelines, history, major villains, and adventure hooks; most players are thinking what race and class combinations are allowed, where they can buy armour, and if they’ll have enough hit points to survive the first adventure.
Some GMs try to fix this by providing players with a setting primer – a brief(?) written overview of the setting, with some background info and adventure hooks – with the expectation that players will read it to prep for character generation. But no. As everyone knows, players do not read these documents.
Yet the concept isn’t wrong – a written primer is exactly what you want to include in your gazetteer. You just need to make sure it includes the right content. Timelines and background are boring and usually irrelevant to new PCs. Allow me to let you in on an open secret: Players are notoriously uninterested in your brilliant ideas. When primers fail, it’s because they focus too much on the GM’s creativity, not the players’ needs.
Your players’ guide needs to be all about the players. Every aspect should answer questions the players will ask when they’re rolling up characters. The goal here is engagement – players are interested in the setting when they’re interested in their characters – make the players’ guide about them, and they’ll be open to everything else your setting has to offer.
Starting Points
This section outlines various “homebase” locations that PCs can come from. Some granularity here is useful, so choose actual settlements, not just regions of your setting map, and include the following:
- Name and size: Resist quantifying size, since population numbers are rarely useful to players; instead provide a qualifier to give a sense of scale (e.g., village, town, city, metropolis, etc.)
- Location: The region and hex number on the setting map
- Known for: Prominent characteristics that differentiate the settlement – does it trade in a commodity, is it cosmopolitan or insular, is its government unusual, do the citizens have weird social customs? This entry should imply one or more character types to help players conceptualise their PCs.
- Goods & Services: A quick list of goods and services available in the settlement (e.g., 1 inn, 2 taverns, 1 gemsmith); use whatever settlement-generation tool works for your game system – the goal here is defining where PCs can obtain things they need.
- Major NPCs: By major, I mean relative to PC exposure, not prominence within the settlement. The players do not care if the mayor is a retired 4th-level fighter if their characters won’t have a chance to interact with him. Don’t bother with full stat blocks – just the basics, like name, class, race, and level. Maybe include some guideline to roleplaying the character, like personality, disposition, or alignment (a good trick is basing your NPC on a book or movie character).
Consider this a slightly deeper dive into any settlement that you may have described in the setting map section. You’re certainly free to include a high-level map of the settlement, but do so only if (1) you can create the map quickly, and (2) it helps players create their characters. Watabou’s fantasy city generator is a great quick-and-dirty resource for this.
Rumours
From the PCs’ perspective, rumours and current events are essentially synonymous, so create a bullet list of interesting things the PCs can investigate, known to them by virtue of living in the setting. Naturally, rumours may true, false, or somewhere in between, and PCs will pursue them if they’re interesting. Include them the Players’ Guide to help players make decisions about their characters.
From the GM’s perspective, rumours are adventure hooks. Craft a sentence that describes a conflict and implies the benefits of action (i.e., the PCs can keep what they have or get something they want). Don’t provide detail – it’s wasted effort if PCs ignore the rumour, and you want maximum flexibility when the PCs eventually decide to follow up. Do make sure to provide leads the PCs can pursue – if there’s no likely lead, PCs will ignore the hook. As a final note, avoid time requirements – PCs will prioritize anything they see as time-sensitive, and you don’t want to railroading the players right out of the gate.
Character Options
At a minimum, provide a list of allowable races and classes. Where there are changes or additions to the “standard” races and classes in your game system, include them here. This is where you get some narrative latitude, because race and class descriptions need to speak directly to your setting. So, if elves in your setting are really the offspring of fey and human, or if “rangers” are simply fighters with a particular set of skills, mention those details here.
You can also use race and class descriptions as a sneaky way to provide setting background: Create a “Sea Priest” entry to describe your setting’s Dagon cult, use your wizard entry to explain how spells work, or include a “Templar” class to illustrate the fighting order’s role in the setting. So long as these details are provided in the context of character generation, players will read it.
Finally, use this section to introduce any new perks, flaws, feats, skills, traits, proficiencies, spells, powers, schools, aspects, or any other thing your system lets players choose to create their character.
Equipment
Include any new armour, weapons, vehicles, ammo, gear, whatever, that PCs can buy; also note any equipment unavailable for purchase, for whatever reason (e.g., swords are for warrior types only, no one makes heavy armour, armour piercing rounds ignore 2 points of defence at four times the cost). This is also a good place to describe the setting’s currency, and any guidelines for exchange rates, money-changing, loans, and debt.
Putting it All Together
Here’s how my players’ guide is shaking out (N.B. These are Chimera stats for the sake of example):
Starting Points
Alaha (town)
- Location: Minocra Province (hex #1314)
- Known for: Capital of Minocra Province, only viable port on island; walled town populated by mainland settlers with growing influx of Saba natives enjoying “modern” amenities
- Goods & Services: 1 provisioner, 1 stable, 1 temple (Hurmuz), and a massive market square that hosts a bazaar on non-holy days. Because Alaha is a “frontier town,” availability checks are 3/10
- Major NPCs:
- Intisara [Hakim’s majordomo (F settler; 2nd-level warrior); cf. Mola Ram/Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom]
- Khoury [Head of Temple of Hurmuz (M Settler; 2nd-level missionary); cf. High Sparrow/Game of Thrones]
- Qssim [“Fixer” who works in bazaar (M Settler; 1st-level con artist); cf. Hannibal Chew/Bladerunner]
- Sabirah [Wilderness guide (F Saba; 1st-level scout); cf. Cpl. Colette Ferro/Aliens]
Rumours
- Explorers from Bala Keep (hex #0813) discovered an abandoned port town north-west of the Province – it was clearly built by foreigners, but there are no inhabitants or clue why they left; the Saba consider it taboo.
- Saba hunters complain of a fearsome beast that attacks their villages when their hunting parties are away.
- A former priest of Hurmuz named Aswad led a party of two dozen deserters from Alaha into the jungle and is wanted for sedition.
- Saba hunters captured a party of Usabir babbling about a race of gods on the island’s highlands known as the “worm-brothers” who can read thoughts.
- If the pirates of Kapuros can be contacted, they might be willing to sell Hakim a ship he can use to re-establish contact with the mainland.
Character Options
Saba Native (Character Race)
The Saba are a jungle tribe indigenous to Minocra. Peaceful and trusting, the Saba have created a TL 2 civilization; each village houses 2 clans and is composed of stout timber buildings surrounded by a stockade walls. They fashion metal axes, speartips, arrowheads, darts, and small knives. Women make all major decisions – hunting, planting, building, mining, trading, diplomacy, and worship – while men execute them with characteristic loyalty. The Saba are excellent hunters and bitter enemies of the primitive Usabir cannibals, who raid the clans for slaves and sacrifice.
IC: 2 WL: 1 Perks: Bullseye (male) or Authority (female)
Special Perks:
- Jungle Ways: Improve ability rolls in the jungle by level
Pirate (Character Class)
Rogues and privateers who ply the seas in search of fame and fortune, usually obtained by plundering trade vessels flying under any flag. Pirates have a strange code of ethics that bind a given crew together when teamwork is required, but allows – with no loss of honour – subterfuge and betrayal of one’s fellows when personal gain is at stake. The more artful the betrayal, the more esteem a pirate earns (though inflicting permanent injury is frowned upon). Pursued by navies, bounty hunters, and mercenaries, pirates shelter in remote and hidden islands from which they launch their marauding fleets. The Floating City of Kapuros is a pirate haven off Minocra’s south-western shores. The city is governed by a council of captains who represent the interests of their respective crews, who forge temporary alliances to “patrol” known trade routes, enter mutual defence pacts, and arbitrate how much each crew must donate to the city’s coffers. Crewless pirates form a faction unto themselves and are responsible for matters of civil upkeep and supporting active vessels. Pirates swap crews often, so political allegiance (such as it is) changes frequently, and while most crews are ostensible rivals in the field, their code demands some degree of solidarity within Kapuros itself.
IC: 3 WL: 2 Abilities: Athletics, Trick Flaws: Pirate Code
Special Perks:
- Sea Legs: Improve Athletics rolls aboard ship by level
- Scurvy Mates: Gain Influence (pirates) specialisation
Perks
- Authority: Bonus +1 to Influence rolls made in home turf [Improved: Bonus +2]
Flaws
- Pirate Code: Vow to uphold the Pirate Code; a breach of this obligation reduces earned IP for the current session by 2.
Equipment
- Desert chain: Lightweight chain mail worn under a warrior’s kaftan; treat as light mail (CR/37)
- Desert bow: Heavy laminated bow (TL 3; Size [Enc] M [1]; Dmg 1d4; Rng 8″; RoF 1; Cost $300); add wielder’s Athletics to damage rolls
Final Words
The players’ guide will contain a lot of information, but as long as you keep it focused on characters, players will read it. I’m also sensing that this section may be a “living” part of the gazetteer, perhaps updated to reflect new options that result from play or as creative answers to player questions raised during character generation. As always, I put the question to you: what’s missing?