Advice/Help How Extensive Should Lore About a Roleplay Be?

[The Boneless]

Hello fellow roleplayers!
I have a question regarding lore about a roleplay. I hope someone can give me some guidance, thank you! =)
I have this old idea for a science fiction roleplay I got watching Dune (2021) when it first came, having recently watched Dune: Part Two I got inspired to at least begin writing the lore.

How extensive do you want the lore to be?
I've got a lot written down already and lots of it stored in my head, new ideas popping up every now and then. I'm thinking of keeping all of the lore stored on the Discord server, a channel for each category of lore. I could personally write loads as I enjoy it but I wonder if people are interested? I get that there's a sweet spot, but what is that?

 

[GrumpySwallow]

I do not do any deep lore- or world-building when I make RPs that are not fandom-based. I do not have the focus to create one long ongoing narrative, otherwise I'd be an author. What I've done, and works for me, is to come up with a basic plot (Ex. Collect the McGuffins before the BBEG does and save the world) and a handful of locations to start with, then create smaller adventures based off of that for my players to take part in. The world and its lore tends to develop from there, and it allows my players to build it with me.

Many RPs fail to thrive, so I don't find it practical to spend so much time constructing the whole world. It takes the sting out of it if I haven't invested so much time and effort into world-building.

 

[cheeseburger90210]

No not that deep, 3 or 5 paragraphs is more then enough for most roleplaying people on most roleplaying web sites. Most peoples backstories are only about one paragraph; some more, some less.

 

[nerdy tangents]

Massive world builder here. I have the equivalent of twenty pages of information written up with various head canons and plot points and like you I’m adding more every day.

In my experience introducing the world building over the course of the roleplay is the best approach.

Start with a plot and maybe a few basic ideas that are needed to create characters.

Ex. Let’s say in your headcanon there is a specific type of technology or magic, then share that right away.

But try not to share more than two ideas at once.,

Then once the story itself gets started you can share your more in-depth ideas via exposition in the roleplay.

** if it’s a fandom do let your partner know you have headcanons you will be revealing **

Because people do actually like when their partner has put a lot of thought into a roleplay and most enjoy reading headcanons. They just don’t like having to go through a massive info dump at the beginning of the story.

 

[cheeseburger90210]

Massive world builder here. I have the equivalent of twenty pages of information written up with various head canons and plot points and like you I’m adding more every day.

In my experience introducing the world building over the course of the roleplay is the best approach.

Start with a plot and maybe a few basic ideas that are needed to create characters.

Ex. Let’s say in your headcanon there is a specific type of technology or magic, then share that right away.

But try not to share more than two ideas at once.,

Then once the story itself gets started you can share your more in-depth ideas via exposition in the roleplay.

** if it’s a fandom do let your partner know you have headcanons you will be revealing **

Because people do actually like when their partner has put a lot of thought into a roleplay and most enjoy reading headcanons. They just don’t like having to go through a massive info dump at the beginning of the story.

good points!

plot and maybe a few basic ideas, right and then build on those. well you can start with

two ideas and then build, two become four, buillding on that you could go to sixteen. depending on the character.

in-depth ideas are great to have. more so if you can explain details.

if youre good you can explain details in story-lines.

info dumps dont bother me at all. I like them; I must be strange. lol lol!

 

[The Boneless]

Thanks for all the answers, really good tips! =)

 

[The Boneless]

nerdy tangents I really like the whole "more-lore-as-we-go" approach, makes a lot of sense to me! It won't be as much for the others to take in when they first join. =)
I'm thinking of having the basic lore in the interest check and on the Discord, then as the roleplay goes I'll add more of the pre-written lore in line with what's going on in the story. Sort of like when you discover a new area or creature in a video game.
Thank you! =)

 

[GojiBean]

Hello fellow roleplayers!
I have a question regarding lore about a roleplay. I hope someone can give me some guidance, thank you! =)
I have this old idea for a science fiction roleplay I got watching Dune (2021) when it first came, having recently watched Dune: Part Two I got inspired to at least begin writing the lore.

How extensive do you want the lore to be?
I've got a lot written down already and lots of it stored in my head, new ideas popping up every now and then. I'm thinking of keeping all of the lore stored on the Discord server, a channel for each category of lore. I could personally write loads as I enjoy it but I wonder if people are interested? I get that there's a sweet spot, but what is that?

Hoyo!

I know it's probably not helpful to say this, but as the GM it's entirely personal preference how much lore you want to include, and how much you think is necessary for the RP to function the way you want it to.

When I run an RP (which isn't a fandom, of course) I tend to focus first and foremost on culture. Things like clothing style, architectural style, religion, forms of government, the legal system, social norms, etc. If there is more than one central nation to the RP I make sure to flesh out all of these things for each and every nation.

Doing so helps to breathe some genuine life into the RP. And the more diverse and distinct the cultures of each nation are from one another the more life your world has.

No matter the location in which you house your ideas, I believe it's a great idea to do just that anyway. Horde your ideas and write down everything you can think of until you literally can't think of anything else to put down.

Cheers!

~ GojiBean

 

[The Boneless]

Hoyo!

I know it's probably not helpful to say this, but as the GM it's entirely personal preference how much lore you want to include, and how much you think is necessary for the RP to function the way you want it to.

When I run an RP (which isn't a fandom, of course) I tend to focus first and foremost on culture. Things like clothing style, architectural style, religion, forms of government, the legal system, social norms, etc. If there is more than one central nation to the RP I make sure to flesh out all of these things for each and every nation.

Doing so helps to breathe some genuine life into the RP. And the more diverse and distinct the cultures of each nation are from one another the more life your world has.

No matter the location in which you house your ideas, I believe it's a great idea to do just that anyway. Horde your ideas and write down everything you can think of until you literally can't think of anything else to put down.

Cheers!

~ GojiBean

Thank you, it was really helpful! =)

 

[Purr]

Hello fellow roleplayers!
I have a question regarding lore about a roleplay. I hope someone can give me some guidance, thank you! =)
I have this old idea for a science fiction roleplay I got watching Dune (2021) when it first came, having recently watched Dune: Part Two I got inspired to at least begin writing the lore.

How extensive do you want the lore to be?
I've got a lot written down already and lots of it stored in my head, new ideas popping up every now and then. I'm thinking of keeping all of the lore stored on the Discord server, a channel for each category of lore. I could personally write loads as I enjoy it but I wonder if people are interested? I get that there's a sweet spot, but what is that?

Hiya The Boneless !

That sweet spot I think you're looking for can only be found by talking to everyone involved in the game. Yourself included. Here's what I mean by that.

Ask your players how much lore they want in the game and average it out. Compromise. Some gamers are here to immerse themselves in a deep world while others just want to blow off steam without getting deep at all.

Let's say you have 5 players. After asking all of them, 2 of them want lots of lore. 2 of them want a little. The 5th doesn't mind how much lore there is. I recommend shooting for the middle ground.

However, there's a 6th important person in the game and that person is you. You can write all the lore you want or don't want to your heart's desire. There is no rule saying you have to share it all. But I think it's best to know it. Especially for those players who are curious.

Writing legend Anne McCaffrey was known for having an extremely good finger on the pulse of her scenes and her characters and her stories. She knew intimately more about her characters and dragons, and her lore in her world of Pern, and her universe than anyone else alive. And that knowing carried emotions and details to her every reader!

Now it's your turn. I say you should find out by asking and act well on what you find. Have fun with it!

Honor and fun,
Dannigan =)

 

[Sir Les Paul]

To answer the question of the thread:

There is no lore requirement. You can genuinely start as a blank slate and go. In fact, I suggest everyone try it at least once as a writing exercise.

To answer the question at the end of your post:

I'm an advocate of the idea that there exists a diverse pool of GM's and players with different tastes and preferences. I can tell you what my sweet spot is as a player, but then I would admit that it changes as soon as become a GM. In fact, it may change based on genre, the length of the game, complexity of technology and/or a power system, my current horoscope, and if mercury is in retrograde.

Seriously, though, there are various degrees of reasonable information to give and functional information. I'll be the first to tell you that I love to solve a problem before it happens and the first to tell you that if you write too much information down, your solution will end up lost and you may just encounter a problem you tried to solve.

Then of course there's auxiliary information. You could write out info for your game like your a Bethesda world builder, but is that gonna scare off players, earn the respect of others, or just be neglected?

So I have two actual answers for you.

First, do what suits you. There are likely other players out there it will suit and hopefully some are looking for a game. If you start off on the same wavelength, well that's always a strong start. If you run into trouble, ask around a bit. If your lore is too wordy, condense it. If you have too little functional world information but a ton of auxiliary historical information, perhaps trim some places while you grow others. But, always stay true to what you find reasonable.

Secondly, and this is more personal, just try to make your world feel alive. A world where there is a push and pull. A world with a beating hard and a million stories to tell. If you nail this down, you might just make a world you return to after you finish one game. After all, most worlds outlive their characters.

 

[wordmaven]

A premise should be provided. I don't go deep into lore unless it's for a group project. The ideas and concepts of the RP should already be defined once the planning stage is done.

 

[Edric Blight]

Boring and simple answer but honestly it depends on the RP. You can have as much or as little lore as you want or see fit. (:

 

[Jannah]

As extensive as you want, really. Just make sure it's engaging for the reader, otherwise it'll be hard to find sincere interest for the RP. Personally I leave lore in RP's to a minimum as I know the vast majority of them die pretty quickly. I'd rather put that extra effort of lore building into my personal writing projects.