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Play Advice: One sentence setting concept

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  1.  # 1
    This is inspired by the "one sentence character concept maker". The idea is to try to do the same with setting.

    The formula is:

    A (feeling) (genre/place/time) where (struggle/theme).

    Some examples:

    * A dark fantasy where a struggle rage between good and evil.
    * A hard core science fiction where technology have pushed humanity to the brink of destruction.
    * A crazy 20s pulp where atomic apes want to take over the world.
    * A depressing metropolis where every day is a struggle against crime and corruption.
    * A fantastic fairy kingdom where destruction threaten as humans lose their superstition.
    * A god-fearing middle age Europe where people are tempted by demons in their desperation to escape from poverty.

    Etc.

    This could properly be done better. Maybe a "one paragraph setting concept", or something like that.

    Any ideas?

    - Anders
    •  
      CommentAuthorHoho
    • CommentTimeJan 12th 2007
     # 2

    I don't think a paragraph will help, really. The strongest settings, to me, are those that can be washed down to one core idea or two - look at the rich, versatile fertility of "fantasy" vs. the rigidity of, like, "A contemplative space fantasy where kung fu Prophets try to transform humanity through hardship" (Dune). It's easy to play in "fantasy", and it's really not easy at all to play in "Dune."

  3.  # 3
    One sentence is great. It's rigid, but easy to create and allows creative elbow room. A paragraph allows just too much GM backstory to creep in.

    Here's a one-sentence description of a game/setting that I have on my back burner:

    A gritty, sepia-toned fantasy where broken-hearted barbarians struggle to protect their desert home lands from an ice age and druid-witches from the North.
  4.  # 4
    I would be more drawn to "A contemplative space fantasy where kung fu Prophets try to transform humanity through hardship" than just "fantasy". The reason is that the longer description provide a situation. So the player have some idea of what their characters are going to face, and can make characters accordantly, and the GM have an easier job creating meaningful conflicts. This will give much more focus on what is actually important in the story.

    There are of course games that that are just 'fantasy' games, but then have a character creation process that also will create the more specific situations. (I am thinking about Burning Wheel here.)

    But anyway, the idea with this is to create setting concepts, and just saying "fantasy" does not really give a concept.

    - Anders
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      CommentAuthorHoho
    • CommentTimeJan 12th 2007
     # 5

    If you're looking for a situation, that's a different thing than a setting.

    • CommentAuthorMcdaldno
    • CommentTimeJan 12th 2007
     # 6
    A fallen empire, where gangs of scavengers fight for what isn't theirs.
  7.  # 7
    shreyas,
    Either we don't agree on what is meant by situation or we don't agree on what exactly is meant by setting, because I think somewhere we taking past each other. You see, I would say that it is nearly impossible to make a setting without also making 'situation', and mostly you will need setting to actually get to a situation. The question is how explicit you want to do it.

    - Anders
  8.  # 8
    A hopeful post-apocalyptic junkyard/wasteland where telekinetic children defend their communities with golems made out of garbage.
    A murderous neo-noir village of bureaucratic professionals living in the shadow of an enormous gothic castle.
    A melancholy playground where adults chase after the long-lost ghosts of their childhood.
    A paranoid society of art collectors where forgery takes on a new meaning.
  9.  # 9
    I think this is doable in a lot of existing settings, if not quite to formula.

    Midnight: A dark world where the Lord of Night is the only god left, and the diverse races must wage desperate battle to survive.

    Tribe 8: A gothic post-apocalypse where pierced punk-rock heroes must tred a line between demons and goddesses to find freedom and salvation.

    HeroQuest: A mythic age is dying, now you must decide what the new age will be.

    So yea, it certainly can work. I dunno how tight I'd tie the formula down, but I would certainly consider doing this for any game that I'd, say, pitch at a con.
    • CommentAuthorMcdaldno
    • CommentTimeJan 12th 2007
     # 10
    Shreyas,

    It kind of seems like you're derailing the thread here, with arguing over definitions. It's clear that the working definition of Setting (in this thread) does include elements of Situation, as was outlined in the OP. Your definition is a really interesting one, but it would kill this design exercise to explore it here, in my opinion.

    Perfect: A constricted, dystopian society where only a handful of people dare to hold a dream.

    An eerie village, where the children have all disappeared.
    • CommentAuthorBryan
    • CommentTimeJan 12th 2007
     # 11
    This is pretty cool, and it would be great for Abulafia, but I think that maybe the constraints restrict the possibilities of a single sentence. When I was in fiction workshops, we talked about the magic-one-liners that could in one sentence let you know everything about a character -- there was never a formula.

    Before she started aging, her black dress -- that of a Blackbringer -- caused fear all across the kingdom and even wizards who wore the same black as the crows would drop dead as easily as the unfortunately colored birds when she passed.

    or

    A fantasy kingdom where Blackbringers cause death to those who wear black.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBent
    • CommentTimeJan 12th 2007
     # 12
    I can't take credit for this one, because it's the subject line I just beheld at RPoL.net in the Player's Wanted section:"Dungeon and Dragons Drow War [lesbian themed ADULT]". Says it all, doesn't it?
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      CommentAuthorGraham
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2007
     # 13
    Interesting. Let me try it picking the elements randomly, without trying to make them relate to each other

    A gritty cartoon where rich layabouts struggle to make meaning of their lives
    A parodic film noir where soliders fight against an impending environmental catastrophe

    It's interesting, but it doesn't quite work. Some of those themes don't quite seem to work in the genre.

    Don't get me wrong, though, it's a cool little tool.

    Also, "Perfect" looks like an interesting game, from Joe's description. I've never really known what it's about before.

    Graham
  14.  # 14
    I can see that this is a good way to pitch you game idea, which is great because now I can see all the interesting ideas people have for games.

    I got the idea for this because I was working on a setting creation tool, and what I could see was that abstract ideas like 'feeling', 'mood', 'theme' and so on, give a much clearer idea of the setting concept, than if you use more concrete facts, like description of the geography or races and cultures.

    So I thought that it would be interesting to start the setting creation with the abstract ideas (feeling and theme), and then maybe do something like what Clinton does with Chris's character concept maker here

    But I can see that a setting concept may be a bit harder to catch with one rigid formula.

    - Anders
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      CommentAuthorHoho
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2007
     # 15

    I'm not sure how this is supposed to be a useful tool for play, when you can't decide what its purpose or function is. If it's a setting thingy, it's overweight. If it's a situation thingy, it's incomplete. If it's a pitch, it doesn't have to do with play at all. Which is it?

    •  
      CommentAuthorThomas T
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2007
     # 16
    Shreyas, why does it have to be immediately useful for play? It's a little structure to help you create a concept - a starting point for a setting. And as a bonus, it seems to work to boil down existing settings into a to-the-point pitch. All useful functions.
    •  
      CommentAuthorHoho
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2007
     # 17

    Thomas, Anders said that that's what he wanted by putting it in Gaming+. Plus, I want that useful thing too. Why don't you?

  18.  # 18
    I may have been wrong in putting this in Gaming+; I am not exactly sure in what context this should be used.

    So to focus this a bit: One of my intentions is to have something the GM and players can use, before a new game, to decide upon a setting they want to work with. Something that can give an easy way to form a strong concept to build on.

    For this purpose it is properly incomplete, but with some feedback this will hopefully change.

    - Anders
    • CommentAuthorMcdaldno
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2007
     # 19
    I feel like (struggle/theme) should be broken down into two fill-in-the-blanks.

    Currently, the answers being given are like:
    A (parodic) (film noir) where (soliders fight against an impending environmental catastrophe).

    A (feeling) (genre/place/time) where (people) face (struggle/theme/conflict), maybe?
  20.  # 20
    The (struggle/theme) part is certainly the catch-all part, so it would be nice if it could be split up a bit.

    I have had thought about explicit mention the characters' role, but I was concerned that it would be too limiting. But I can see in all the examples above, that they describe what the characters do in the struggle, and sometimes who they are - and, of course, if you describe the main theme or struggle in the setting, you will nearly always describe how the character fit into it.

    So as you suggest, it is properly a good idea to include 'people' (character role) explicit.

    Because English is not my first language, I have to ask about this: Is there so much difference between 'struggle' and 'conflict' that they both have to be mentioned?

    - Anders
    •  
      CommentAuthorNeko Ewen
    • CommentTimeJan 13th 2007
     # 21
    Posted By: Anders LarsenBecause English is not my first language, I have to ask about this: Is there so much difference between 'struggle' and 'conflict' that they both have to be mentioned?

    A "conflict" implies that there are at least two sides working against each other. A struggle can be more internal, one-sided, or abstract.
    • CommentAuthorMcdaldno
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2007
     # 22
    The only reason I diferentiated them was because Conflict is a jargon word, as Theme, in the indie games community.
    • CommentAuthorJongWK
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2007 edited
     # 23
    Anyone seen this?
  24.  # 24
    Ewen, Joe,
    Thank for the clarification.

    JongWK,
    That is interesting. It seems like he is using the formula:

    Premise: (personality trait) (people) (what they do) in (setting)
    Genre: (genre)/(genre)/...

    - Anders
    • CommentAuthorJongWK
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2007
     # 25
    Posted By: Anders Larsen
    That is interesting. It seems like he is using the formula:

    Premise: (personality trait) (people) (what they do) in (setting)
    Genre: (genre)/(genre)/...


    Yeah, that's basically it. The results are very wacky at times, but they can get your creativity rolling.
    • CommentAuthorMcdaldno
    • CommentTimeJan 14th 2007
     # 26
    I'd suggest that instead of (personality trait) you have (descriptor).
    I'd also change (setting) to (genre/story type).

    So, my template would be:
    The (descriptor) (people) (what they do) in (genre/story type).

    The (primitive, tribal) (V'Xthura people) (fight to defend their lands from colonial forces) in (this brutal war epic).
    The (valiant) (heroes of Metropolis) (must unite for the greater good) in (this final confrontation).
    A group of (mystic) (seekers) (must find their homeland) in (this tale of discovery).
    A party of (courageous) (adventurers) (scour dungeons in search of danger and reward) in this (tactical adventure game).
  27.  # 27
    The two approaches put together:

    A (feeling) (genre/time/place) where (struggle/theme/conflict), (descriptor) (people) (what they do) in (story type).

    A (depressing) (science fiction) where (the universe are dying), (desperate) (scientist) (seeks vital knowledge) in (a last battle to save the world).
    A (mystic) (future earth) where (nightmare hunt the waking world), (mental handicapped) (children) (are the only one that can open the dream portal) and (find the help of the good dreams).

    - Anders

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