Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:20 pm
It seems that the topics have changed directions a bit. Cham, I'm currently seeing your concerns as:
1. Players won't read fluff.
The point of "riffing off" of a stereotypical culture is not that players read a bunch of paragraphs of fluff for that culture. It's not even that they read 2 sentences of every culture. Given that this is a KSF we're talking about, players should not be under the burden of reading all (or even most) cultures in your setting. If a PCs only interaction with a KSF is, "Where do the vampires come from?", then they are a normal player. That's why you use stereotypical cultures in response. You point them to not-Translyvania, not-The-Dark-Brotherhood-From-Elder-Scrolls, and not-Twilight. Then they write "Culward Edlen" on their character sheet and spend the session talking about they are depressed yet exquisitely beautiful. No one needs to read or write a single sentence.
2. You have lots of PCs who ignore settings and pick backstories based on class.
A KSF should definitely have a million factions for every single class to call their home. If there was only 1 faction for fighters, I don't fault any PCs in your campaign for picking the 1 fighter faction and getting confused when you tell them that their friends must be french or whatever.
Alternatively, if you point out that there are a lot of Fighters Guilds for british people, and your PC ignores you because they want to be part of Fighters Guild 9 in not-France... is that really the fault of the KSF setting? They were going to ignore a wonderfully crafted, original campaign setting too. I don't think a KSF should be burdened with solving this kind of player's behavior.
1. Players won't read fluff.
The point of "riffing off" of a stereotypical culture is not that players read a bunch of paragraphs of fluff for that culture. It's not even that they read 2 sentences of every culture. Given that this is a KSF we're talking about, players should not be under the burden of reading all (or even most) cultures in your setting. If a PCs only interaction with a KSF is, "Where do the vampires come from?", then they are a normal player. That's why you use stereotypical cultures in response. You point them to not-Translyvania, not-The-Dark-Brotherhood-From-Elder-Scrolls, and not-Twilight. Then they write "Culward Edlen" on their character sheet and spend the session talking about they are depressed yet exquisitely beautiful. No one needs to read or write a single sentence.
2. You have lots of PCs who ignore settings and pick backstories based on class.
A KSF should definitely have a million factions for every single class to call their home. If there was only 1 faction for fighters, I don't fault any PCs in your campaign for picking the 1 fighter faction and getting confused when you tell them that their friends must be french or whatever.
Alternatively, if you point out that there are a lot of Fighters Guilds for british people, and your PC ignores you because they want to be part of Fighters Guild 9 in not-France... is that really the fault of the KSF setting? They were going to ignore a wonderfully crafted, original campaign setting too. I don't think a KSF should be burdened with solving this kind of player's behavior.