Unfamiliar Settings

tbug · 07-12-2010, 10:03 AM

Do most of you set your games somewhere familiar to the players? We had our first session yesterday, and when I said that the PCs were in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, three of the four of them started checking the internet to learn about the place. (Normally I discourage computers at the game table, but with In Nomine they mostly have their rulebooks as pdfs so I make an exception.)

The players had fun, so by definition it wasn't a wasted session, but we did hardly any plot. Two of the four players have never seen the prairies, so I repeatedly had to stress how different it is from British Columbia (our home). The players learned about a bunch of stuff happening in and around Weyburn, including things I'd missed in my prep, and I mostly just improved while they explored. I had plot, but if was unfolding over several days and less than twenty-four hours of game time passed during the session.

So a fun time means a fun session, but I'm curious to know if this is a typical occurrence for when players are unfamiliar with a game's setting.

07-12-2010, 10:03 AM	#1
tbug Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Victoria, BC Canada	Unfamiliar Settings Do most of you set your games somewhere familiar to the players? We had our first session yesterday, and when I said that the PCs were in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, three of the four of them started checking the internet to learn about the place. (Normally I discourage computers at the game table, but with In Nomine they mostly have their rulebooks as pdfs so I make an exception.) The players had fun, so by definition it wasn't a wasted session, but we did hardly any plot. Two of the four players have never seen the prairies, so I repeatedly had to stress how different it is from British Columbia (our home). The players learned about a bunch of stuff happening in and around Weyburn, including things I'd missed in my prep, and I mostly just improved while they explored. I had plot, but if was unfolding over several days and less than twenty-four hours of game time passed during the session. So a fun time means a fun session, but I'm curious to know if this is a typical occurrence for when players are unfamiliar with a game's setting.