Basic setting Guide

[biali]

A basic guide for creating a setting


When creating a setting, think about what you expect from your RP.

If you want a short just-for-fun RP, you may do not have to think that much about a setting.

But if you want a long lasting role play with an interesting plot and a lot of character development, you should take a little time and sit down to think about a good set up for your story.

The best for beginners would be a setting of which you know a lot of, so you don't have to do much research and you feel comfortable with it.
But also keep in mind, that you are not playing alone.
For example: If you are an absolute geek for the 18th century and know everything about it; such as clothing, social structures, technological development and so on, you probably want to chose this as your setting.
But it is highly possible that not everyone shares the same interests as you.
If that's the case, you may have to put more effort in describing things and fill your RP partners in.

Well.. so what is a setting?

First, I'll give you a negative example:

I often saw this kind of dialog when two people set up an RP:

A:„Okay... which setting should we use?"
B:„I dunno. Maybe let's have giant aliens invade the earth and enslave the humans. But then one human and a giant befriend each other.“

Well, this may be a plot idea, but it is not a setting! And this kind of plot will most possibly let you get stuck at some point, but that's not the subject here.

A setting is much more than that!

You need a place, time, circumstances that the characters live in.
Just give them a stage they can play on, props they can play with. It is the foundation for your RP, the board you move your pawns on.
It opens possibilities, but also gives you and your characters' limits.

For example, if you let your RP play in medieval times, you can't let your character be a professional in brain surgery, since that kind of medical technology was not yet developed at that time.
(Yeah, of course he/she can be a time traveling surgeon from the future, but you know what I want to get across, right?)

Here is a little list of what are the most important things for a setting:

1.Where does the story take place? (in Space, in a Fantasy world, on earth, in a certain country, etc.)
2.When does it take place? (a special historical date, after a war, after or before an apocalypse, every day at 4 o'clock or whatever)
3.What kind of people/creatures/machines etc. are involved? (e.g. humans, giants, dragons, robots, fishes, mermaids, aliens, mystical creatures etc.)
4.What kind of general circumstances are there? (e.g.: war, time of peace, complete isolation from the outside world/ Extreme suppression from higher authorities etc.)


Here is just a little example for a setting that I just made up:

The Earth, 200 years in the future. For over 60 years, the humans are slaves to invaders from outer space.
Not just because of the aliens' shier size of over 50ft, but also due to their superior weapons, they had overpowered humanity very quickly.
Everywhere, the huge colonial settlements of the giants loomed over the once beautiful human cities. Now they were mostly abandoned ghost towns, since all humans were forced to live in prison camps, where they worked as slaves for the giants, whom they just called 'the beasts'. Most people worked in mines, to supply the giant society with resources.

It was a hard life for the humans. Most of them died from exhaustion or undernourishment. They were too weak to start a revolt or anything else to break free.
But of course the giants could not keep track of every single human in the world. And so several underground groups formed, far away from the giant cities - and they prepared for war.



I know, it is a bit cliched, but it serves to point out important things.

1.We have a place:
Our good ol' planet earth.

2. We have a time:
200 years in the future.

3. We pointed out who is involved:
Giant alien invaders, the humans in the prison camps, the humans from the underground rebellion

4. We pinned down the general circumstances
-humans are enslaved
-their life pretty much sucks
-there is a rebellion forming

What is still missing, is how the giants look like, what kind of behavior they have, which structure of hierarchy they have and so on. But also the humans are important. Maybe a new sub society has formed inside the prison camps...


You see that you can get very detailed with your settings. And it will only work out good, if not perfectly, when everyone who is partaking, sticks to this setting.

But remember to let yourself and your partners enough space to maneuver on your set up stage.

After all, Role playing should be fun for all who are participating.

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I hope this little guide was at least a little helpful. I kept it short, since these are only the basics for a good setting.
If you have more ideas of what could be added to this, feel free to tell me!

Thanks for reading!