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silvarilon · 03-17-2010, 01:20 AM

Ironclaw Online

Enforced.

It's based on the Ironclaw tabletop RPG, released by Sanguine Productions. Since the players aren't all going to know that source material, we used the canon information but based it on real world history.
The game takes place in a city that is themed after Renaissance Italy. The technology, items, etc. is all based on that setting.
The other three major houses are based on the French, Scottish, and Germans.

We have the history from the tabletop RPG, so the timeline is developed already. We then add history as appropriate for plots and stories, making sure it fits into the timeline, as well as fitting into the "flavor" of the setting.

Both.
The setting and general timeline was established for us before we started. But there is still a *lot* of history for us to fill in.
What we do is figure out what will lead to the most roleplay opportunities in the game (i.e. what will create the most gameplay) - then we look at the history that will help "set up" that. We do research on real-world history to find something similar, and to help anchor the game in the renaissance period. Usually the research on the history then gives inspiration for the setting, so we might adjust our plans.

So we start with the setting, work backwards to the history, then work forwards from the history to change the setting. This helps us avoid a game with history that feels like an obvious setup for the game mechanics, and instead feels like something that might have actually happened. (Usually because it has a real-world equivalent event that we based it on.)

For example, most of the religious stories of saints and events are real world historical events or stories with the names changed.

I'm not sure I understand.
The history (like "This is how this race arrived, and how they gained power") mostly happened long before the game started and PCs started having an effect. So the history was designed to help "set up" opportunities for stories. There are events in the history of the various houses that can help give you inspiration for how to play your character, and to help make the different houses feel different.

We have certain themes and plots in the game (such as "the rise of the middle class" or "racism") - we are very careful when creating history to not contradict those themes, but we don't specifically create the history around the themes.
For example, there is slavery in the game (the extreme end of "nobles vs commoners") - so when we put in the history we made sure that none of the major players had any issues with slavery or sought to abolish it. That included the church - instead of the holy books saying "everyone is equal" the holy books say "Everyone has a role to play, and are put here for a reason" - that allows the players to support or stand against slavery as appropriate, without the history giving a clear way to solve the conflict that is intended to be ongoing.

Constantly.
Everything but the most clear-cut event has multiple viewpoints OR is unverifiable.
We occasionally have conflicting historical information. We regularly have historical information that is obviously written from a biased viewpoint. We occasionally have two versions of the historical information from different biased viewpoints.

All of those.

Mostly, players don't seem to pay much attention to things that don't affect their character directly. They don't care if the king is having an affair, if the princess is bored, or if the prince is going to marry to forge an alliance or not. They do care if Bob, who they are having an argument with, goes to jail or not. If Mary can give them a new cloak before the ball, or if they can win a fight with Tim and strut around being arrogant about it.

So the viewpoints and history that we put in is all focussed on giving the players something to do. It might be information about a battle between two houses, so the players can use it as fodder for future arguments, use previous victories to taunt opponents, or talk about mending the problems of the past. Or we might make it more immediate - a document talking about that specific battle may mention a lost treasure that was being fought over and lost by both sides. So that information can be used to create a new struggle for the treasure, which could even involve other groups that weren't mentioned in the history.

But for the most part our history is built around establishing the groups of the game. Why does the sailors guild have so much power? How can they get around with being barely-concealed criminals, and why doesn't the king just send the police force to stop them? Why do the Rinaldi nobles accept the other four houses squatting in their city? What is the basis of the religion? Does it preach tolerance or fire and brimstone? - all of that is history, but more importantly, it helps the players decide how they will behave in the current game. It helps the constables decide if they will arrest the sailors guild leaders. It helps the Rinaldi decide if they'll scream at rival nobles to leave the city. And it'll clue the players into the response they can expect if they do try those things. So the history adds consistency to the currently-happening roleplaying.

Cheers!

03-17-2010, 01:20 AM	#5
silvarilon Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 144	Re: Creating Game History Ironclaw Online Enforced. It's based on the Ironclaw tabletop RPG, released by Sanguine Productions. Since the players aren't all going to know that source material, we used the canon information but based it on real world history. The game takes place in a city that is themed after Renaissance Italy. The technology, items, etc. is all based on that setting. The other three major houses are based on the French, Scottish, and Germans. We have the history from the tabletop RPG, so the timeline is developed already. We then add history as appropriate for plots and stories, making sure it fits into the timeline, as well as fitting into the "flavor" of the setting. Both. The setting and general timeline was established for us before we started. But there is still a lot of history for us to fill in. What we do is figure out what will lead to the most roleplay opportunities in the game (i.e. what will create the most gameplay) - then we look at the history that will help "set up" that. We do research on real-world history to find something similar, and to help anchor the game in the renaissance period. Usually the research on the history then gives inspiration for the setting, so we might adjust our plans. So we start with the setting, work backwards to the history, then work forwards from the history to change the setting. This helps us avoid a game with history that feels like an obvious setup for the game mechanics, and instead feels like something that might have actually happened. (Usually because it has a real-world equivalent event that we based it on.) For example, most of the religious stories of saints and events are real world historical events or stories with the names changed. I'm not sure I understand. The history (like "This is how this race arrived, and how they gained power") mostly happened long before the game started and PCs started having an effect. So the history was designed to help "set up" opportunities for stories. There are events in the history of the various houses that can help give you inspiration for how to play your character, and to help make the different houses feel different. We have certain themes and plots in the game (such as "the rise of the middle class" or "racism") - we are very careful when creating history to not contradict those themes, but we don't specifically create the history around the themes. For example, there is slavery in the game (the extreme end of "nobles vs commoners") - so when we put in the history we made sure that none of the major players had any issues with slavery or sought to abolish it. That included the church - instead of the holy books saying "everyone is equal" the holy books say "Everyone has a role to play, and are put here for a reason" - that allows the players to support or stand against slavery as appropriate, without the history giving a clear way to solve the conflict that is intended to be ongoing. Constantly. Everything but the most clear-cut event has multiple viewpoints OR is unverifiable. We occasionally have conflicting historical information. We regularly have historical information that is obviously written from a biased viewpoint. We occasionally have two versions of the historical information from different biased viewpoints. All of those. Mostly, players don't seem to pay much attention to things that don't affect their character directly. They don't care if the king is having an affair, if the princess is bored, or if the prince is going to marry to forge an alliance or not. They do care if Bob, who they are having an argument with, goes to jail or not. If Mary can give them a new cloak before the ball, or if they can win a fight with Tim and strut around being arrogant about it. So the viewpoints and history that we put in is all focussed on giving the players something to do. It might be information about a battle between two houses, so the players can use it as fodder for future arguments, use previous victories to taunt opponents, or talk about mending the problems of the past. Or we might make it more immediate - a document talking about that specific battle may mention a lost treasure that was being fought over and lost by both sides. So that information can be used to create a new struggle for the treasure, which could even involve other groups that weren't mentioned in the history. But for the most part our history is built around establishing the groups of the game. Why does the sailors guild have so much power? How can they get around with being barely-concealed criminals, and why doesn't the king just send the police force to stop them? Why do the Rinaldi nobles accept the other four houses squatting in their city? What is the basis of the religion? Does it preach tolerance or fire and brimstone? - all of that is history, but more importantly, it helps the players decide how they will behave in the current game. It helps the constables decide if they will arrest the sailors guild leaders. It helps the Rinaldi decide if they'll scream at rival nobles to leave the city. And it'll clue the players into the response they can expect if they do try those things. So the history adds consistency to the currently-happening roleplaying. Cheers!