Making fantasy more fantastic and mysterious


Advice


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I remember back in the old days of my formative years when I read far more fantasy than I do right now, stories seemed more alluring. One thing that seems to plague the stories of my adult life is that they lack the mystery that was so ingrained in fantasy back in the day.
The Elf Song Inn from the Dark Alliance series holds a special place in my heart simply because it is mysterious in its own way. We know the basic story of why a spirit haunts the tavern and sings her sorrowful song, but no one can do anything for her as she tries to call her late husband back from a war long passed.

Fantasy, especially RPGs, feel like an arms race. Defeat enemies, level up, get tougher, repeat the process.

What ever happened to the sense of wonder that filled these games and stories? Why is it that I can go back and play Pools of Radiance and get the feeling of being lost in an unknown world, yet when I play a more contemporary game it feels bland and boring?

This isn't a specific post saying "Help me with this" or "what is your advice with X" but instead an open ended post. How should I design modules to give my PCs that feeling of mystery that I find myself craving? Is it, instead, that such feelings of mystery comes from the story and environment being so well designed and the mechanics so handily handled that they become, to the viewer, seamless?


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Fantasy culture is much more present in our society than it was in the past. Therefore, people already have an idea of what fantasy should be and if you don't deviate from it, you'll never get that wonder and awe.

So in order to do that, you should stray from the familiar. make something really different that players wouldn't know. Most are familiar with henotheism and monotheism. throw in some animism and astrology. Don't stick with standard monsters, make your own. or reskin monsters. But as long as you make a setting that is a checklist of what is considered normal for a fantasy setting, you won't get that awe back.

Sovereign Court

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Don't tell people too much. When you write a setting, don't spell out everything, don't explain everything. Don't even be too consistent.

You need to paint some evocative outlines, that suggest that there's a lot of detail. But don't give it (yet). Make people wonder about apparent contradictions, or the "but how come they don't...?". Then smile at your players and say that there's good reasons for that, but they'll have to actually discover those.


Odraude is correct. Fantasy & scifi permeate our culture now. Further, all stories follow the same archetypes (subject is too long to cover), so overall everything becomes variations on theme. The only way to restore mystery is to play with those less exposed to the stories.


hmm, dunno, I guess it's subjective but ..

my five cents:
it's about transparancy and secrecy.
many good horror stories spend more than half of the story wondering what is going and sometimes what you thought was going on turns out to be a red herring and the real secret comes out of left fiel and floors you. Often you're never told "THE TRUTH" as it is irrelevant, people are still dead, maybe the main guy survived, but his girl is still dead and knowing what the monster was or where it came from doesn't change that.
This is also why I don't like the chutulu mythos, it was horrible and enticing when I read it, but then somebody drew it, named it, made statues and computer graphics of it and "fat squid head-dude with wings" is suddenly less mysterious.

The same thought apply to fantasy and the fantastical I think.
When you read about characters with magic powers they don't fully grasp fighting monsters they can't explain on top of stormy castles with their family heirloom it is quite a cool image that pops into your head #and it's probably a different image for me than you#. But when you say " a lvl 7 Magus with a +3 longsword fighting a bedlam" something gets taken away, the wonder I guess. And the fantastic becomes mundane, the wonderous becomes everyday.

A thing my storyteller started doing some years ago, that I've adopted is to stop using standard _anything_: monsters, items, locations and settings. sure we use stat blocks, but we rename them or change them.

Ex: maybe these lycanthropes turn into wolves, yes, but they live in a swamp and can spit acid, and maybe they're all serving the alpha in their pack, who rules them like a cross between a family a cult and a company. and maybe my smith npc can make magic items, but only the ones that can be explained by good craftsmanship, so he can make keen, but not frost burst weapons. and he doesn't call it magic he calls it "ancient secret dwarves metal-folding techniques"

Also changing the settings ideas of whats available will change the mood.

Ex: my current game is half a year old roughly and last game night was the moment when I said "you have gained her as an ally and mentor, she can also produce miner magical trinkets like scrolls if you make it worth her while". The player got a glimmer in his eyes from thinking about what suddenly was available to him, if I had been running the standard golarion he wouldn't have even raised an eyebrow at being told that he could buy scrolls.

And to quote the Incredibles: when everybody is special, nobody is special. meaning that the players won't find their own class abilities, builds, spells and/or races exiting if there is a pile of dudes walking down the street with the same gifts and looks #this is why I don't play mmo's#personal investure is iportant as well, saving the dukes daughter for a bag of gold is a days work and after a week the adventurers don't even remember the name of the duke, let alone his daughter. saving your sister though ... that is a story, and both success and failure will be noticed in the future.

One thing I have thrown out the window is the ideas of CR as well: for me they don't work, weak monsters are more powerful in certain situations and strong monsters are kittens when they're in the wrong location. And depending on your party and game some monsters are way overpowerd or underpowered depending on what gear and powers your group have.

Ex: dr/ademantine is not that powerful at some levels IF the group have ademantine weapons, if they don't it's suddenly a mayor obstacle. (found that out the other day)

and if you slavishly follow cr's then your players start thinking that they always can win, that the game world is making allowances so that they always have a fighting chance. and that is not how the real world works, so why would this one? #unless your plot actually is that the world somehow revolves around them, then I guess it would be fine#

so, yeah, that's my advice(s), take a step away from the beaten path and change your players preconceptions and perceptions of the game. you don't have to make a thousand houserules and unique self-made monsters to pull it off, some re-skinning and small changes will be enough. The more the players focus on the nuts and bolts of the game, the more they will forget that there even is a story. balancing the "roleplaying-" with the "-game" will bring back some sense of the fantastical.

-LO


Of course, some player will never spot the awe that you seek. It happens. Probably a good idea to game with people that share your playstyle.


Ascalaphus wrote:

Don't tell people too much. When you write a setting, don't spell out everything, don't explain everything. Don't even be too consistent.

You need to paint some evocative outlines, that suggest that there's a lot of detail. But don't give it (yet). Make people wonder about apparent contradictions, or the "but how come they don't...?". Then smile at your players and say that there's good reasons for that, but they'll have to actually discover those.

wow, you and Odraude just summarized and simplified everything I meant to write in my torrent of words. I am humbled and I agree with you both, sirs.

-LO


Adding on to what the others wrote, as much as possible stop using game terms at the table. Some, unfortunately, is unavoidable. But you don't have to say that the monster is using Vital Strike or Full Attack; just describe what the character could see/hear/feel/smell/taste/otherwise sense. This applies to magic as well. Instead of naming the spell or SLA a monster uses, simply describe what is happening. Even magic items the PCs acquire and analyze can be described this way: the players don't need to know what the exact bonus is on the Blessed Sword of Anthelm, just that it was used by Anthelm himself when he defeated the Black Fiend of Throckmorton.

You might want to also consider not letting players look things up in the rule books during play, and only using the books yourself when absolutely necessary. In general, if you don't remember what a particular modifier should be, just wing it. +/- 2 makes a good default for most situations, or +/- 5 in cases where there should be a very large advantage or disadvantage. This also has the benefit of speeding up play. (If necessary, remind the players that the rules exist to facilitate having fun with what is essentially shared storytelling; they are not an end in themselves.)

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