Jump to content

To Lore or Not to Lore?


StormWolfe
 Share

Recommended Posts

On 11/7/2018 at 11:05 AM, Stat said:

3. Engaging read. Well written, fun documentation won't feel like a chore to read. I've hang out on sites I had no intention to join just going through their lore, because it was not a bureaucratic info dump, but had effort put into it to be exciting and fun to read. 

What would you say IS something exciting to read? I feel like my lore stuff is still too much of a bureaucratic info dump and wonder if that might be a reason why we have no players.

2055148134_EOHbanner.png.530f7a6856f7b2fd0b4861da17014318.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Gota said:

What would you say IS something exciting to read? I feel like my lore stuff is still too much of a bureaucratic info dump and wonder if that might be a reason why we have no players.

 

I took a look at your site and I think in your case it's more about organization and clearly defining must-reads for new members. There seems to be a huge amount of lore, and all those links you have may seem a bit too overwhelming for someone who's just getting started. To make it more engaging I'd definitely suggest having a very easily accessible post with a few of paragraphs on what your world is all about, and links to your documentation divided in must-reads and additional info! A summary of your setting to get potential members excited, and accessible follow up information would probably make it a lot more accessible!

 

Again, keep in mind that I'm not the kind of player who usually joins original fantasy settings with a lot of lore to get familiar with, so my advice is from that perspective. 

 

And good luck :)

  • Agree 1
  • Love 1
  • Thank you 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/11/2018 at 5:03 PM, Stat said:

 

I took a look at your site and I think in your case it's more about organization and clearly defining must-reads for new members. There seems to be a huge amount of lore, and all those links you have may seem a bit too overwhelming for someone who's just getting started. To make it more engaging I'd definitely suggest having a very easily accessible post with a few of paragraphs on what your world is all about, and links to your documentation divided in must-reads and additional info! A summary of your setting to get potential members excited, and accessible follow up information would probably make it a lot more accessible!

 

Again, keep in mind that I'm not the kind of player who usually joins original fantasy settings with a lot of lore to get familiar with, so my advice is from that perspective. 

 

And good luck 🙂

I have changed the guide up a bit. Is it better now?

2055148134_EOHbanner.png.530f7a6856f7b2fd0b4861da17014318.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Gota I think it's much better, yes! You did a great job giving a general idea of what the site is about, and then ordering all the links nicely so that the lore grows naturally as you read it without feeling overwhelming! 

  • Love 2
  • Thank you 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Stat Er, do you have other advice as well, perhaps?

2055148134_EOHbanner.png.530f7a6856f7b2fd0b4861da17014318.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

If you went to a site and saw that there were 3 to 5 short documents to read about a race or species plus a Beginner's Guide for each one, would you still consider joining?

 

On 11/6/2018 at 2:30 PM, StormWolfe said:

Based on GDocs - where I initially write the Lore and keep the documents as a backup... the documents range from 2 to 10+ pages of 14px type, some images, and much larger section headings (like 18px). 

 

MY DUDE. That's a lot of lore. Unpopular opinion, and I'm just gonna be up front and say there's no way I'm gonna read all that. Probably ever. I'm gonna read whatever I feel like is relevant to my experience and either join and write based solely off of whatever nugget I chose or peace tf out. I have limited free time. I don't want to waste it by reading unnecessary stuff.

 

But that's 3-5 separate documents per species? And each document is 2-10+ pages? Even with headers and images, that's going to overload my already work-overloaded brain. If you're going to have that much stuff, at least piece it out for a quick skim. Gimme a tl;dr. Because even though I may be invested in a game, it doesn't mean I'm invested in all the lore bs that goes with it. And most of the time, as a player, a lot of it isn't relevant to me.

 

Honestly though, when you have that much lore, to me it feels like you're not leaving any room for members to help shape things. Part of what makes a fantasy setting so enticing is the ability to bend the rules a little (not to world-breaking means, but allowing your people to get a little fun and ridiculous and taking some liberty). To me, that kind of lore and all the rules that go with it belong in a book. If you're going to have lore, all you need are the necessities. Leave some stuff up to interpretation. Let me have some (reasonable) fun. Don't make me read all the things. 

  • Fuck Yeah! 1

translunary.gif.5374a61b67b4df1af4bb898e0c039553.gif

a dark, urban fantasy;

inspired by sailor moon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Sage said:

but that's 3-5 separate documents per species? And each document is 2-10+ pages? Even with headers and images,

 

Sorry! No, the number of pages includes the headers and images. It is an inclusive total. So, with headers and images the document runs anywhere from 2 to 10 pages. For example, a race's "basics" document would likely not be even 2 full pages (including images and headers so it is not all reading). However, the same race's history document might be considerably longer but would only need to be read if the story being written involved historical events.

 

17 hours ago, Sage said:

Honestly though, when you have that much lore, to me it feels like you're not leaving any room for members to help shape things. Part of what makes a fantasy setting so enticing is the ability to bend the rules a little (not to world-breaking means, but allowing your people to get a little fun and ridiculous and taking some liberty). To me, that kind of lore and all the rules that go with it belong in a book. If you're going to have lore, all you need are the necessities. Leave some stuff up to interpretation. Let me have some (reasonable) fun. Don't make me read all the things. 

 

This is a valid concern. We do offer totally undeveloped "areas" that a roleplayer can opt to flesh out. However, the original species and races are well documented. It is less about rules and more about who they are as a culture. Individual mileage may vary. The documents define their culture and their history.  Like any fandom, we are trying to establish an entire world and still leave room for members to develop their individual characters or a country / race.

 

There are no unpopular opinions in this thread! I am seeking feedback and information because I want to improve the site before it reopens. I probably should have made this a poll + discussion. I keep forgetting that's an option.

 

Keep the feedback coming! I am actually looking at incorporating some of the suggestions into my lore's wiki! Y'all are awesome.

  • Like 1
  • Love 2

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/7/2018 at 7:17 AM, StormWolfe said:

If you went to a site and saw that there were 3 to 5 short documents to read about a race or species plus a Beginner's Guide for each one, would you still consider joining?

 

How much reading is too much? How much is too little?

 

I don't think there is a definitive answer to this because different people will look for different levels of depth for RP. So yes, a site with heaps of documents to read will turn some people off, those people probably aren't your target audience though.

 

That said, information should be easy to find and be presented in an easy to read format.

 

For me, that means all information about a race being in one document and all information in that document being under headers and subheaders. Where possible, breaking information up into lists and using images also helps. Where ever information about a race must be put somewhere else (say, in the case where information about that race's magic is better put under a magic doc) a link should be provided.

 

And an index! Create an index like you would find in an encyclopedia.

 

I've also had success with providing my inspiration for the lore of whatever world I've created in a beginner's guide. People familiar with my source inspiration will immediately 'get' what I'm trying to create, and fans of those materials will probably be excited to be a part of that world!

  • Like 1
  • Agree 2
  • Love 1

 

sig.png.30b42565d04d922988370bf14e1447bc.png

PSI: an Occult Investigations RP

Roleplay Architects: Grab a friend (or many friends!) and just write.

You can also find me at:

static-historicalrp.jpg  B8CB4x.png rpabutton.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Check, check, and check! Thank you, @Kit the Human!!!

 

Our lore's wiki does have a really good index system with the documents listed within their own categories. Where needed, documents are cross referenced between categories. Right now, I don't see a way to get all of the information for some of the species into a single document without it becoming overwhelming.

 

After reading all of the responses - thank you everyone - here's what I am looking at....

  • Organization is key! Make sure all of the pertinent information is easy to find. To that end, I might need to find a more robust index system for the lore's site.
  • Document layout needs to be easy to read and well-written. Since I cannot stand trying to read small text, that should be covered.
  • Our wiki allows us to put a Table of Contents for each document in the sidebar. This should help readers find the info they need.
  • Links within the document that leads to the next one or a short list of Suggested Reading.
  • A good Beginner's Guide with race/species overviews and links.
  • For the species / races that need more than one document, put the have to know information into the first one. The remainder will be the in-depth reference documents a roleplayer might need to read later.

More recommendations welcome!

  • Love 2

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have a lot of lore on my forum, and we're not even done yet. Only one Kingdom out of Ten is open for play, which means by the time we're through, we will have so much lore.

 

Personally, if someone sees what we have and says "that's too much lore," they probably aren't going to stick around and write with the rest of us crazy folks, anyway. That's just my personal feelings on the matter, but those folks who are actually excited about in depth fantasy worlds are more my people and will probably not only stay and write but contribute to our ever-growing world, too!

 

I'm in the process of entirely re-organizing our MediaWiki that holds all of our lore to make it more user-friendly and accessible. I'm a graphic designer mostly focused on web- and UI/UX design, so the Wiki is my next personal project. Teehee.

  • Like 1
  • Agree 1
  • Love 2

Thorns: Uprising
A Unique Victorian Fantasy Play-by-Post RPG

LORE | FORUM | CHARACTER CENSUS | WANTED ADS | DISCORD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/6/2018 at 3:17 PM, StormWolfe said:

If you went to a site and saw that there were 3 to 5 short documents to read about a race or species plus a Beginner's Guide for each one, would you still consider joining?

 

How much reading is too much? How much is too little?

 

1) Absolutely. While I don't mind a long lore document, I do prefer when they are divided up into other areas. When I see large amounts of information some part of me gets a bit... hmm whats the word I'm looking for... frightened? As I read through it I start to get overwhelmed and before I know it I'm reading a paragraph and I don't even remember what I read two paragraphs before it. Its like my brain stops functioning and taking in the information because I see I have a LOT more to go through. Blocking it up in different areas and beginners guides are always turn ons for me. I enjoy that the staff took the time to see the intense information from a newbies view and then chunk it up for easy guidance and reassurance.

 

2) This is again my opinion but large amounts of reading are difficult for me. So when the reading is portioned up then I am fine, no matter the lengths it will extend in other documents. I see the "less is more" thing but in a different aspect. Less per page but still the good amounts necessary in finer detailed sections. If someone is truly interested they will continue.

wcc_aff_one.png.ee644d7c84e4471ab7231d79aa59872c.png freerphostaffbutton.png.2c941043f4d1bcb22ada2b22d3e60dfc.png myrpg-affiliate.png.5453a73021a9354b5b772ac4e15f7ef9.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/19/2018 at 11:06 AM, Muse said:

Personally, if someone sees what we have and says "that's too much lore," they probably aren't going to stick around and write with the rest of us crazy folks, anyway.

 

This. BLUF:  Lore is not going to cater to all of the players all of the time. Its not worth the mental anguish you put yourself through wondering if the lore is too long, too short, not detailed, etc. etc. Do what you want for the site because honestly the only person you can make happy with the lore is yourself.

 

  • Like 1
  • Fuck Yeah! 1
  • Love 2

Respice Finem

 

Can be found causing mayhem and intrugue at Dawnbreak.

image.png.26f869973cedc9bd084f357aedf7c335.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use, Guidelines and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.