Day 6 of #RPGaDAY2018 asks:
How can players make a world seem real?
This is a great question because it can be answered in many ways. I also like it because it is directed at players instead of the GM, who is usually the one in “charge of the world and it’s NPC denizens”.
I believe the first the first thing players can do is take notes during a game. I do not mean that a player should have insanely detailed notes for each session. Just take notes of NPC names, locations, or tidbits on other PC’s that are introduced during the session. This gives you a reference to refer to when taking action with your PC. The real world, as opposed to our imaginary worlds of RPG’s, is a shared experience that we are all a part of. Everyone knows the city of New York exists and that World War II was a major event in history because it is a part of our shared, real world experience. An imaginary world can feel real when multiple players acknowledge a piece of fiction exists. If you name a hometown in the backstory of your character and another player references that, although it may have nothing to do with the current session/campaign, it can make that town feel real.
Another thing a player can do is bring forth the minutiae of the world. The job of a GM is to set the scene and tell the players what is happening in the world at the given moment. It is impossible for the GM to describe all of the minute details of the scene, especially if they are unimportant to the current situation. A GM doesn’t have the time or need to describe each and every table at the inn, the different types of liquor behind the bar, or the thread count of the sheets on the beds. These are details that are mostly ignored in the real world as well but we do not deny that they are there. A small interaction with the small details of the setting by a player can go a long way to making it feel real. Are the characters in a busy market? Then have your character visit the merchant who sells the rare fruit your character loves. Are the characters inside a tomb that has been sealed for a thousand years? Then describe how the dust of the place affects your character’s allergies. Sue Hubbell once said, “We humans are a minority of giants stumbling around in a world of little things.”
Players should also make their characters feel more human. “Now Pat, what do you mean? My character is not a human. It says dwarf on my character sheet!” Yes, your character may be a dwarf, but its characteristics are in no doubt based on humans and the same goes for all fantasy or alien races. Why do we love dogs, cats, and dolphins but yet ignore or fear worms, insects, and reptiles*. It is because animals like dogs and cats exhibit behavior or characteristics that we can associate with human traits.
The wagging of a dog’s tail or the purr of a cat can evoke an emotion within us. “But my character doesn’t have a tail!” Your character doesn’t need a tail to show us human emotion. Show us your character smiling, furrowing their brow in anger or thought, shuddering over the fear of rats, pacing in nervousness, drumming their fingers in impatience, rolling their eyes in disapproval, etc. When the characters are believable, the world is believable.
What do you think? How can players make an imaginary world seem real?
*This is a generalization. I know there are plenty of people in this world that keep and love these other animals as pets
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