Ep 51 - Lore

Passive (Aggressive) Perception

Jul 11 2022 • 55 mins

This week we cover the importance of a tabletop roleplaying game's setting lore. We discuss why we think it's sometimes neglected and cover the potential risks of not being wholly acquainted with your in-game world. We touch on topics such as setting uniqueness, campaign scope, bringing real-world assumptions into sessions, the loremaster player archetype, and much more.

Website: https://icastspells.com
Twitter: @passive_podcast
Email: passiveaggropod@protonmail.com

Show Breakdown:

  • 0:00: Intro
  • 0:59: TTRPG News
  • 13:20: @BurnelDan "What is your favorite character you've had in any game?"
  • 21:36: Main Topic
  • 23:19: Dispelling the misconception that some games don't have lore
  • 24:53: What exactly we mean by TTRPG lore
  • 25:56: The subtlety of deep lore games
  • 28:37: TTRPG lore is what players fall in love with and remember
  • 29:55: Lore knowledge helps us play our most genuine characters
  • 31:27: Not using the available lore can strip a setting of its uniqueness
  • 34:29: The absence of lore can serve as a hook
  • 35:18: Emergent lore, while useful sometimes, can be a cop-out for players who don't want to do their research
  • 39:47: Gaining a working knowledge of a game's lore informs the scope of the players' actions
  • 41:02: Gaining a baseline of lore knowledge shows respect to the game and the GM
  • 42:40: Knowing lore prevents us from bringing real-world assumptions into the game
  • 44:45 Knowing game lore cuts down on lengthy exposition dumps (employing the loremaster player archetype)
  • 49:27: Wanting emergent story has merit, as does targeted learning
  • 53:32: Outro