Quotes #10 - Game World & Genre

Game World
A “realm of reality” an SBRPG game takes place in. A Game World is usually one planet, but can be as expansive as a galaxy in Sci-Fi settings. Think of a Game World as the “World of Reality,” like an alternate dimension where the physical laws (Genre) are consistent.

Example: Earth during World War II - a near modern-day Game World. Another example of a Game World is a fantasy medieval world named “Myaha” full of knights, dragons, and sorcerers. A Sci-Fi example of a Game World is the “Orion Sector,” a 100x100 LY area of space.

Genre
A Game World has a Genre, which is a combination of World Mood, Setting, and Theme. This Genre can’t change once the Gaming Group sets it for a Game World. Genre is discussed more in the “Game Worlds” chapter, along with it’s sub-parts: Setting, Theme, and Mood.

Example: A good example of a Genre is exactly like how someone would describe a novel to you, “It’s an edgy, Sci-Fi crime drama.” “Sci- Fi” would be the Setting, “edgy” would be the Mood, and “crime drama” would be the Theme. All three of these together is the Genre.

Today's quote is from SBRPG 101, our 'getting started' chapter. We define the first two parts of the puzzle, game world and genre. For a game where you start from nothing and create your own world, laying out these definitions is critical to the creation process. Without laying these out and having the group agree to them, not much can happen.

We lay out the concept of a game world first, which defines where the action takes place. The game world is where all of your game's sandboxes will reside, and defines when in time your game is happening. We even lay out defined borders for games set in space, even though you can travel to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, it's important to define how big the area of space you will focus on will be. A game taking place in a dozen systems in a 10 LY area will be a lot different than one that takes place billions of stars in a 1,000,000 LY area. Defining the time period and scope set you up for the next big part, genre.

As we love to say, genre = setting + theme + mood. Setting your game's genre is one of the most important things you can do. It defines the level of technology, what is going on, and the tone of the game. This is one of the points we hammer in thorough the book, and always come back to. Genre defines everything - the characters you create, the factions that do battle, and even down to what happens when your character gets hurt. We will rip apart the pieces of genre in future posts, but there is a game design thing going on here that's important to think about.

Genre is the agreement your group reaches when play is started. It's like saying, "Everything in the game we will be playing will be set in a superheroic World War II, cover espionage in Europe, and follow a realistic set of rules." Everything that comes afterward, class creation, factions, what powers characters design, how guns work in combat, what situations happen in the game, everything - is controlled by the genre agreed to. This prevents things from slipping in that are out-of-genre, and keeps the game on track.

Roleplaying is very creative, and it is easy for a game to slip and get off track, we have been there many times before. There comes a point where more and more stuff gets added to your game, and at the end of the session, you sit there with an uneasy feeling of, 'this is not why we started playing this.' There also is the risk of stuff slipping into the game that flat-out breaks the mood, like realistic death or mental anguish in something that is supposed to be a simulation of a lighthearted kid's TV show or cartoon. Genre protects the game from things like this happening, it's a yardstick both players and the referee can hold up to actions, plots, and situations and say, "Does this really belong in this game?"

Genre can also free your creativity up and set expectations, if your group agrees, 'we are playing a game that simulates a horror movie,' then all bets are off. Anything that can happen in a horror movie is fair game, even all the stupid horror-movie cliches. It prevents feelings from being hurt, and also lays out to the group clearly, 'this is the agreed upon stuff that can happen in the game.'

Genre and game world seem really simple, and possibly even simplistic, but there is something bigger to them. We have played roleplaying games with a lot of people who don't understand what a roleplaying game is even about - why play them? A big fear people have is, "Oh, I am going to create this wonderful character and the referee is going to do something really nasty to them." To a completely new player, sometimes that fear alone is enough to scare them away from even playing.

Genre says, "What we all agreed upon when we created our world is what can happen in it." It sets the rules, expectations, and defines 'the worst thing that can happen' ahead of time. It is a tool for avoiding hurt feeling and arguments later, and also gives the group a framework for all the creativity that follows. Genre is the heart of SBRPG.