Not Saying Everything
What's a Glorberg anyway?
There are many ways to approach TTRPG design, and that's what makes it such an interesting hobby! Some games are 400 pages long and go into great detail about everything - cities, factions, people, and more. Others are shorter but give you the tools to create your own stories at your table.
Long and Short Books
As a new parent, I organize my hobbies to make the most of my free time, and that means I don’t generally want to read long TTRPG anymore. That's why I've come to love games that give me the means to create truly interesting stories, yet are still short in scope.
How much is too much? When do you say "I have enough content/tables for a group to feel comfortable playing my game"?
Here's my approach:
I provide enough information about the world in general to give people a sense of the vibe I'm aiming for.
I add rolling tables for things that are thematically important for my game.
I leave gaps in my rolling tables for players to fill in.
Fill the Gaps
This last bit is key to creating something truly interesting, I think.
In Stoneburner, there's a thing called a Glorberg that's cited in one of the sector's tables. The book doesn't explain what it is or what it looks like. That's because I don't know!
I want the players to figure it out and make it their own. I give enough clues about the world so that the players have the tools to read the word Glorgberg in its context and decide what to do with it.
In my home game, they actually look like... well I won’t spoil my vision of them, but I will say though that they are quite the troublemakers.
Stoneburner
If you like this idea of leaving out information for fun, check out Stoneburner. We still have a couple of days before the campaign ends on Kickstarter and we need your help to reach our stretch goals and hire amazing artists to help us create even more weird sectors, kits and tables!
Back Now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/farirpgs/stoneburner
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