That’s it.

I am curious what y’all, as players and DMs, would like to know about a culture in a game world. Symbols? Government? Values? The underlying aspects of trade negotiations and treaties?

let us presume that the culture is something you must choose as part of creating your character; that it impacts backgrounds, but not classes, and is not tied to race or species — an elf from here would be culturally little different from a human.

yeah, I know. I ask weird questions…

I would say you first need to know what makes it distinct. What stands out? I'm reading The Stormlight Archives for the first time, and one thing that the first book stresses is the ways the world shaped the culture, and the ways society has. They use crystals charged with magic lightning as currency and light sources, they measure age by "Weeping" (the month of rainfall they get at the end of every year) instead of birthdays, they live in stone houses with slanted roofs so their houses don't get crushed by boulders thrown about by the frequent hurricane-force storms they get. Culturally, in the nation the book takes place in, there's a wide gulf between genders as far as gender roles go: only women learn to read, only men practice warfare, men and women cannot eat together, and their food is different with men eating lots of spices while women eat more fruits and sweets, women have to keep their left hands covered at all times, etc.

Not to say that players need to go that hard into their culture of origin to populate it with detail, but it is helpful to think along those lines of "what is different about my character's culture?/ what is distinct about my character's culture? What possible origin might this practice have?"

The most obvious thing is how that culture affects the party. So if a character comes from a culture how does it affect that players play style. 
Secondly how will npc’s react to someone from that culture. 
Thirdly if the party comes into contact with a culture how does the culture react?

everything else is pretty much flavour, but those three will have the biggest influence on the game. 

I agree with ArkySmith on their key points. That much, at least, must be known so the players, and the PCs, can act and react accordingly.

As a writer, a player, and DM, I prefer worlds rich with detail, and well established cultures feel important to me. It's nice to know that the world, and its intelligent inhabitants, aren't coming across to the players as hastily assembled, in reaction to the characters' actions and intentions. Established cultures, that will do their own thing when PCs are not involved, seem to add depth to the experience, when the PCs are present.

I know players who don't care at all, and generally make it clear in statements like, "Just give me enemies to fight and places to loot, and let me buy stuff I want with my loot." or "Enough with the chatter, do your thing so I can have my turn." Though there is nothing wrong with that style of play, the DM's hours of time building a culture for that kind of player is unnecessary, and unrewarding for whoever built the world in question.

I agree with all the answers thus far, myself, and my regular play groups do as well, but I wanted to know what is necessary to convey the stuff essential to characters. 

I like ArkySmith's 3 points, though the first one can be a bit broad, lol.

Perception and attitude -- both of and about the people -- is absolutely key.

For my very basic cultures (there are 7 key and 8 secondary), I have Attitude, Relations, Values (broken into Virtues, Sins, and Mores), Kinship, Courtship, Towns, Villages, Backgrounds, Weapons & Armor (there are weapons favored by different areas), Skills & Proficiencies, and I am not fond of doing names because none of my NPC choices reflect any conventions I would use, lol.

I sorta want to make sure that I don't overwhelm -- the Lore Book alone is 600 pages and I am, err, sorta really into this stuff (i am a sociologist).

So this is kinda about helping me find that sweet spot between what I want to throw out there, and what I should, lol.

Quote from AEDorsay >>

That’s it.

I am curious what y’all, as players and DMs, would like to know about a culture in a game world. Symbols? Government? Values? The underlying aspects of trade negotiations and treaties?

let us presume that the culture is something you must choose as part of creating your character; that it impacts backgrounds, but not classes, and is not tied to race or species — an elf from here would be culturally little different from a human.

yeah, I know. I ask weird questions…

As a player, I'd want to know the things relevant to my player's class, background, social standing etc. If he's a fighter born into poverty who had to claw his way out via his brawn, I wouldn't expect them to know much bigger-picture stuff (although with a decent intelligence score they might have figured some things out about how the culture operates based on, say, how the cops treat the poors or why things sometimes cost a lot than they did last month). If they're a noble-born wizard, they might have a pretty deep knowledge of those things

As a DM planning to use the culture... err, everything? You never know what seemingly random detour into the history of hat styles, or why umber hulks feature so prominently in the heraldry, might spark ideas for adventures or homebrew subclasses or whatever

"why does that family crest have a xorn on it?'

"well, kid, that's a long story. Buy me a round and I'll tell ya..."

Their epics and culture heroes...

Quote from AEDorsay >>

I agree with all the answers thus far, myself, and my regular play groups do as well, but I wanted to know what is necessary to convey the stuff essential to characters. 

I like ArkySmith's 3 points, though the first one can be a bit broad, lol.

Perception and attitude -- both of and about the people -- is absolutely key.

For my very basic cultures (there are 7 key and 8 secondary), I have Attitude, Relations, Values (broken into Virtues, Sins, and Mores), Kinship, Courtship, Towns, Villages, Backgrounds, Weapons & Armor (there are weapons favored by different areas), Skills & Proficiencies, and I am not fond of doing names because none of my NPC choices reflect any conventions I would use, lol.

I sorta want to make sure that I don't overwhelm -- the Lore Book alone is 600 pages and I am, err, sorta really into this stuff (i am a sociologist).

So this is kinda about helping me find that sweet spot between what I want to throw out there, and what I should, lol.

 Whether 600 pages enthralls or overwhelms will depend much on the reader.

Does your book's style mimic those sociology texts? Though you have likely already covered this, for others I'll say that when written as a "compilation of other's works", a lore book can hold one's attention between the drier blocks of information:

[facts and figures]

Excerpt from the scrolls of Verdara, circa estimated 2525, "Wanda Whahoosit dragged her twin brother, Howard, clear of the temple as it collapsed. They paused to watch, as the fire burned the body of the wizard, Laramie Lidlicker, to ash. Howard's body would never regain health, but while he lived, he held the ear of Wanda, (now) Empress of the Archipelago known as The Crowns of the Gods."

[Facts and figures. More on the twins and their impact on all trade across the Green Sea]

Quote from first_rolled_a_die_in_1976 >>

Quote from AEDorsay >>

I agree with all the answers thus far, myself, and my regular play groups do as well, but I wanted to know what is necessary to convey the stuff essential to characters. 

I like ArkySmith's 3 points, though the first one can be a bit broad, lol.

Perception and attitude -- both of and about the people -- is absolutely key.

For my very basic cultures (there are 7 key and 8 secondary), I have Attitude, Relations, Values (broken into Virtues, Sins, and Mores), Kinship, Courtship, Towns, Villages, Backgrounds, Weapons & Armor (there are weapons favored by different areas), Skills & Proficiencies, and I am not fond of doing names because none of my NPC choices reflect any conventions I would use, lol.

I sorta want to make sure that I don't overwhelm -- the Lore Book alone is 600 pages and I am, err, sorta really into this stuff (i am a sociologist).

So this is kinda about helping me find that sweet spot between what I want to throw out there, and what I should, lol.

 Whether 600 pages enthralls or overwhelms will depend much on the reader.

Does your book's style mimic those sociology texts? Though you have likely already covered this, for others I'll say that when written as a "compilation of other's works", a lore book can hold one's attention between the drier blocks of information:

[facts and figures]

Excerpt from the scrolls of Verdara, circa estimated 2525, "Wanda Whahoosit dragged her twin brother, Howard, clear of the temple as it collapsed. They paused to watch, as the fire burned the body of the wizard, Laramie Lidlicker, to ash. Howard's body would never regain health, but while he lived, he held the ear of Wanda, (now) Empress of the Archipelago known as The Crowns of the Gods."

[Facts and figures. More on the twins and their impact on all trade across the Green Sea]

"Unreliable narrator" trope in action -- an Ikon named Arabesque who throws in lots of asides.  It is not super dry and is meant to be able to provide player's with information throughout the game that might be of value, as well as provide some possible hooks to other stories. She brings in others, who all have a distinct voice. History rewrite was fun. There are also a lot of in jokes and references to other things -- I mentioned I worked the premise of Mortal Kombat in, and I have nods to movies and shows and books and the boring parts are like a single line each because I want to be sure they can get caught up in stuff when they do glance through it. 

But this is part of why I asked here -- I can deep on all of them, but do I need to? I don't think so. I have architecture, games, dance, monetary and economic crap that all weaves in key elements that influence other things, and the whole thing ties together with some bits of history and relationships. 

I think I have managed to cut it down to Attitudes, Perceptions, Values, Government, Family, Touchstones, and then major towns and villages. Touchstones are the little traditions, mores, folkways, and such, alongside the regional weapon and armor types. The bigger stuff is already laid out for all of them, so this is the narrow space specific to the city culture.

The Handbook will have all the actual rules for all of it -- but I have to finish the write up to put key elements into it. That way it can focus on what goes on the character sheet, lol.

I would never subject my player's to one of my textbooks. Hell, if it weren't for the Unis making me, I wouldn't subject students to them! There is a level of cruelty there that I should only be allowed from behind a DM's screen.

Thank you for mentioning that!

One thing that probably should be in there are cultural prejudices and hoe the cultures react to each other and think of each other.

What I always want to know is what’s life like for these people. What are their jobs throughout the year? What do they do after? What do they celebrate? What food? How are marital bonds formed and what are the partners responsibilities? What problems do they often face? What about their supernatural problem, seeing how we’re on a forum for a fantasy game? Where do they go when they need the help of a spellcaster? That kind of stuff, it feels too rare to find this info in official setting material.

I also what to hear about the normal settlements, not just the capital and major hubs.

How the people will interact with the party is also one I agree with. Such as what problems they need the party for versus which ones they already have covered. Just a personal preference, but I like know ling that my character won’t have to babysit them through every little thing.

Quote from Wi1dBi11 >>

One thing that probably should be in there are cultural prejudices and hoe the cultures react to each other and think of each other.

Prejudice and perspective are baked into much of the underlying stuff I do. Likely because of my personal status and my work, and nearly all of us face some aspect of that -- plus, it is great for underlying basis of conflict.

In checking deeply, I realized that from the beginning I have had a particular stigma attached to each people (and all people have one), and that in cultural descriptions there is a great deal of difference in seemingly minor areas that can become big deals.  So while in cultures I don't say outright that "people from here view these different groups this way", I do set things up so that some of the things those people do may be considered rude by other people.

The becomes more explicit in the rules book, as well.

Quote from Fifinger >>

What I always want to know is what’s life like for these people. What are their jobs throughout the year? What do they do after? What do they celebrate? What food? How are marital bonds formed and what are the partners responsibilities? What problems do they often face? What about their supernatural problem, seeing how we’re on a forum for a fantasy game? Where do they go when they need the help of a spellcaster? That kind of stuff, it feels too rare to find this info in official setting material.

I also what to hear about the normal settlements, not just the capital and major hubs.

How the people will interact with the party is also one I agree with. Such as what problems they need the party for versus which ones they already have covered. Just a personal preference, but I like know ling that my character won’t have to babysit them through every little thing.

Well, this makes me feel better, lol. One of the nice things about the history and set up of the overall world is that there is an immense amount of commonality among the peoples, and I was able to go into bits like that. I like how I get to play with that funcion among different and more localized areas -- the surprising freedom of those who live in the Mage Land, the experiments with democracy in the Western and "free City", the way that the "lady land" and "man Place" are the two greatest powers and really don't like each other --but with change on the horizon.

around all of those are things like dance and the grand games and the way their homes are built and how those in the countryside are different from those in , say, the Gangster City's apartments. The bits and pieces that give it depth for things like the celebrations and festivals.  Since this campaign is a long one and takes place over time, it is something I had to have. Downtime here can mean entering a gladiatorial style competition. 

I'm a write-backwards kind of person. When something is encountered that identifies a hole in the character's backstory, the hole is filled at that moment and becomes the backstory. Most people don't see what's normal to them as something worthy to mention until it becomes relevant.

There is a foundation built for the sake of the DM hooks, but the rest is written on-the-go. Notes are taken to ensure no contradictions.

There can be times where something needs to be more specific and relates to several aspects. Notes. Lots of notes. Think someone with Post-it® notes pinned to a cork-board with yarn strewn between different Post-it® notes like a cobweb. There are tools that can help keep track of it all.

Well, I managed to get through the whole effort. Thank you to all!