The Campaign: Culture In Play

(Following from thist post.)

Keep this, and the embedded Tweet, in mind as we go through the examples below.

💯 In pre-liberal societies, religion was at the heart of the city.

Today, we are told that we live under the separation of church and state, yet, it’s not a question of whether our cities are secular or religious; the only question is whether the religion is true or false. https://t.co/sc2zMwwPz3

— Conquest Theory (@conquesttheory) May 5, 2023

At The Table

The Referee gets a handful of his players together for a session at the table. The group agrees to pursue a lead in a dungeon; this lead points to there being a key that unlocks a secret treasure trove wherein a relic of a past age can be found.

The leader of the faction dominating this region pursues an agenda where such relics, if found and delivered to them, will be rewarded with coin and favor. One of the delving characters is a Cleric of this faction; he knows that this relic is said to be a class of weapon developed by his people's mythical forefather, and thus its recovery is a matter of religion as well as temporal importance.

We have a reason for a faction leader to act as patron for adventuring parties.

The other delvers are foreigners to this region. The Fighter leads a warband, and he came here looking for a place to build his stronghold upon; his long-term aim is to establish a colony for his people here, now that their homeland is lost. Making nice with the local faction suits him as they do not offend him or his people. The Magic-User is an outcast from his homeland, though he avoids saying so, and is along on this delve looking for yet more power to wield when he returns home to seek his revenge. The Thief presents himself as a simple burglar for hire, but he is actually a spy on a mission to surveil the lands around his own for his elders in order to prove his worth by a grand display of cunning; this delve is to help him maintain his cover, and if he finds this a lasting location of interest he will write back asking to set up long-term operations here.

Now we have more than "Bob wants gold to train and upgrade gear." What about the opposition?

The Referee notes that the monsters in control of the area in question are aware of the relic's presence and its importance due to past attempts to steal it. They will attempt a disingenious parley with any delvers, with the aim of stealing the relic for themselves and using it to--at the least--win the favor of a more useful patron for they are otherwise unable to make more of their lot being they are bandits with neither drive nor skill at anything else- and mock those who do.

The relic itself is a NPC in its own right. It exists to serve its creator and his people, and to punish the enemies thereof.

This is to be kept in mind when Reaction Rolls are made, attempts to parley are done, and--should the delvers succeed--find the relic.

As for the dungeon itself, this is a purpose-made structure; it is a vault, with security measures, as much as it is a shrine. The mythology of the creators informs the security measures put into place.

A well-informed and briefed party ought to enjoy the benefit of proper preparation by reducing or eliminating the threat that otherwise would be put before them, just as one does when properly-provisioned and when able to operate as a disciplined and well-organized unit.

Being able to comprehend your character's culture means that you know to what end does he go adventuring. Being able to do the same for those whom he encounters, living and dead alike, will allow him to more easily achieve those ends- it will be easier to recruit allies, to avoid unnecessary problems, to defeat those that cannot be avoided, and to run when overmatched.

That's right, there are concrete, immediate, and obvious benefits from figuring this out for the player- be he a humble dungeon delver just starting out, or a powerful sovereigh playing the Great Game.

For the Referee, the benefits are greater but more subtle. That mess of random table results you rolled up the other night for your own entertainment? You can turn all of that into a coherent adventure site in about as much time, and all you need to do is watch a lot of videos or read some articles on Ancient and Medieval civilizations worldwide (and their mythologies).

You can go deeper--and you'll benefit if you do; Fustel's The Ancient City, mentioned above, is available from Imperium Press--but for now it is enough to remember this: the campaign milieu is not the modern world; it is pre-Modernity, and the Ancients do not reckon as we do. If you remember that, you're going to do okay in making that milieu feel both alien and alive- both as a player and as the Referee.