[RPG] GMing a setting when your players are more familiar with it than you

gm-techniquesmetagaming

My players often ask me to GM games in specific settings we all like. Most of the time, they know FAR more than me about that setting. They will object to events I have happen or how I play an NPC, saying, "That wouldn't happen because of X," or "Y super-known character wouldn't say that."

Assume that I've done my homework as a GM and I've read what there is to know about the setting in the core books of said RPGā€¦ like the setting book. For example, I've read the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide for 4E but haven't read all the novels there are to read, but most of my players have.

What techniques are there to turn my players' knowledge in my favor (or the entire party's favor)? How can I get them to contribute to the story in a fashion that won't compromise their fun and keep things unexpected?

Best Answer

Don't run a World X game. Run an alternate universe World X game.

Sure, your players are expecting a World X game. But you don't know enough details to run one. An alternate universe game lets the players enjoy the genre they want while you still retain control of the details.

Three basic steps:

  • Introduce some elements that are definitely wrong.
  • When they notice a discrepancy, make it seem intentional.
  • Make up information for the characters to know, and give it to the players.

Let's say you're running a game set in 1920s California. You might know some things about the 1920s, and you might know some things about California, but let's assume you have some players who know far more than you do.

Introduce some elements that are definitely wrong.

At the very start of the game, throw something in that makes it absolutely clear that this isn't exactly the 1920s California they're expecting.

DM: We begin the game in San Francisco, June 3rd, 1921. It's a cool morning here in Union Square. Men in tweed jackets are headed off to work, lunch pails in hand. Fruit sellers are opening up their stalls. A young boy is standing on the corner, selling copies of the Chronicle. The headline catches your eye -- "Kaiser Accepts British Surrender".

With a single headline, they know this isn't the world they were expecting. But if the game is set in California, events going on in Europe are just background. It doesn't really matter what's happening in Britain at the time, but it does set the scene. This is not our 1920s.

Let the party find out, in passing, that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1860, just before the presidential election. Russia's been communist since the 1890s. No one's ever heard of a banana.

It is the right setting, but you've established that the world does deviate from their expectations in little ways.

When they notice a discrepancy, make it seem intentional.

Let's say they're talking to the mayor of San Francisco, James Rolph, and they call him by his nickname "Sunny Jim". The players know that this was a nickname he liked, but you don't know that, so you have him take offense to it.

Frank: I go over to the mayor and strike up a conversation. "Good morning, Sunny Jim, how's it going today in this fine city?"

DM: {as mayor} "Excuse me? How dare you call me 'Sunny Jim' like I'm some pal of yours?" The mayor looks very upset.

Frank: Wait a minute, everyone knows he really liked being called "Sunny Jim"!

DM: Kinda makes you wonder why he doesn't like it now, doesn't it?

Now the party's trying to figure out what kind of man the mayor really is, and why he's so harsh to deal with. Maybe there's some secret here. Maybe he's just an angry sort of guy. But you've already established that this world isn't quite the one they know from the history books.

Make up information for the characters to know, and give it to the players.

If you're going to do an adventure out in the farming towns of the central valley, and one of the characters is from there, give them a map you made up yourself. You can do a bit of research to get the basics, but it's ok to make up towns or leave places out. The players already know that the world isn't quite like ours. And when you give this map to one of the players, representing their character's knowledge, now they get to be the one presenting it to the party. The fictional facts become their facts, not just your facts that the players are disagreeing with.

This way, the players know the genre, but not the story.

Most of their general knowledge will be correct. Laser pistols don't exist. Telephones do, but they're not too common. Newspapers carry stories from across the globe. Africa is dark and mysterious. San Jose is a quiet farming town. But their specific knowledge doesn't give them any spoilers. They won't be able to predict the 1929 stock market crash, because they know that this isn't exactly the world they've read about. They can't use Wikipedia to learn things their characters wouldn't know.