Game Masters, Put Together A Starting Guide For Your Players (It Really Helps)

One of the most important parts of any RPG campaign is the world and setting it takes place in. Because while the player characters might be the leads of the play who are strutting upon the stage, the setting is the backdrop, the lighting, the music, and all other aspects of the production. The setting is what provides context for the player characters, and it plays an important role in shaping who they are, and what they're trying to do.

The problem arises when your players aren't as familiar with the setting as you are. Which is why, rather than watching your players stumble over unfamiliar blocking and set dressing, it's a good idea for you to give them some kind of starting guide to make sure they have some idea of what it is they're supposed to expect.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in this case.

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What Does A Good Guide Need?

For folks who are looking to copy a good guide, I'd recommend checking out some of the Cities of Sundara supplements I've put out, like Moüd, City of Bones or Hoardreach, City of Wyrms. The format of these guides is that you get a snapshot of the location in question, a brief explanation of its history, important notes on the culture one is likely to find, as well as breakdowns by district with examples of some locations, NPCs, and even a few rumors one might hear swirling around. As well as an easy-to-use map to put everything in perspective!

For those who are wondering on my process for making locations like this, I'd check out the article 5 Tips For Creating Fantasy Towns and Cities.

For an alternative example, you could grab any of the free player guides that come with Pathfinder adventure paths, like War For The Crown or Hell's Rebels. The list of them should be available on Paizo.com to download.

These guides go a little more in-depth. They provide an overview of your starting area, along with snapshots of the culture characters will likely be familiar with. These guides describe recent events, as well as necessary histories, and they even get into mechanical details by suggesting different character classes that will be more or less effective in the coming campaign, while providing justifications without giving any of the players spoilers for what's coming.

Which are things you can do when the campaign has been written out, and you have the entire narrative throughline figured out.

Come deeper... we shall begin soon...

I've been ruminating on this topic because I'm putting together a chronicle for Hunter: The Vigil for my own players, but the game is going to be set in Chicago during Prohibition. And while explaining fantasy settings, cities, etc. to people can seem difficult, sometimes it's just as important to remember that the past is an undiscovered country for a lot of folks. I've been delving into the era a lot with some work on my period Call of Cthulhu supplements like 100 Gangsters, Gun Molls, and Goons, as well as 100 Businesses To Find in Arkham, so I've been reading a lot about the social developments, technological advances, and timeline of what was going on in America during the 1920s and 1930s.

So rather than just expecting my players to delve deep into the time period the way I've been doing for the past half dozen months, I want to distill what I've been reading down into a snapshot of the era. An explanation of world events, the major social trends that are currently happening, perhaps a period map of the city, as well as a few pointers on what different regions of the Windy City are like during this time period.

I'm fortunate that my players seem to want to play before officially starting their Vigil as hunters, so I don't have to explain the current setup of all the warring supernatural communities... which makes this job slightly easier.

Still, this is a part of Session 0 that I feel a lot of Game Masters overlook, both those who run in homebrew settings and official ones. And while it might not be necessary if your players are familiar with the setting you're playing in, or they're the sort of self-starters who will just dig into the lore to find out what they need to know before the game day arrives (assuming there is a lore tome for your setting, of course), it's probably a good idea to ask your players if they'd like a handy packet to lead them into things a little more gently.

It can save you all a lot of frustration down the line. Trust me.

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