When it comes to lore, some people have parasocial attachment to such the teensiest details unrelated to the actual game, & treat it as commandments rather than as a tool.
I want to open people up to the idea that MAYBE I shouldn't have to buy ALL the Driz'zt or Dragonlance books, or watch a YouTuber, to know why my High Elf HAS to know Elvish from infancy in a FR game where they were adopted TWICE.
Parasociality with fiction is not the same thing as order & structure to a campaign. Accusations of "Monty Hall" games tend to be less about what is presented, & more about lore in most cases I've dealt with, or read/witnessed.
The ONLY time you are required in any capacity to balled & chained to somewhat official lore is Adventurer's League.
DM has control, but not everyone can just find an IRL or online campaign instead of that DM.
So let's discuss How to use lore as a tool, & not as a whip to flog people with, to avoid instilling toxic parasocial relationships with official lore & author's works that are never fully established as canon, the authors themselves. How to make lightly flexible lore that's solid even within an established setting to ward off the old "Monty Hall" accusation. & how parasocial relations with lore affect how we see game design, particularly around races & subraces in regards to FR vs setting-agnostic or setting semi-agnostic design.
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DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
I want to open people up to the idea that MAYBE I shouldn't have to buy ALL the Driz'zt or Dragonlance books, or watch a YouTuber, to know why my High Elf HAS to know Elvish from infancy in a FR game where they were adopted TWICE.
I don't want to shock you, but this was sorted in the 1970s. Your point about Adventurer's League having fixed lore is dead on.
Everything else is in the hands of the individual DM. Some of us do it all ourselves; others follow the published structures on that whole Driz'zt level. Even though we don't all match, it's all valid. I work very hard to make clear what my DM style is, etc. so players can quickly sort out if my table suits them. Thanks to online play, the number of choices people have is exponentially better than it was in the days when we'd stick our phone numbers up on a card at hobby stores.
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When it comes to lore, some people have parasocial attachment to such the teensiest details unrelated to the actual game, & treat it as commandments rather than as a tool.
I want to open people up to the idea that MAYBE I shouldn't have to buy ALL the Driz'zt or Dragonlance books, or watch a YouTuber, to know why my High Elf HAS to know Elvish from infancy in a FR game where they were adopted TWICE.
Parasociality with fiction is not the same thing as order & structure to a campaign. Accusations of "Monty Hall" games tend to be less about what is presented, & more about lore in most cases I've dealt with, or read/witnessed.
The ONLY time you are required in any capacity to balled & chained to somewhat official lore is Adventurer's League.
DM has control, but not everyone can just find an IRL or online campaign instead of that DM.
So let's discuss
How to use lore as a tool, & not as a whip to flog people with, to avoid instilling toxic parasocial relationships with official lore & author's works that are never fully established as canon, the authors themselves.
How to make lightly flexible lore that's solid even within an established setting to ward off the old "Monty Hall" accusation.
& how parasocial relations with lore affect how we see game design, particularly around races & subraces in regards to FR vs setting-agnostic or setting semi-agnostic design.
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
I don't want to shock you, but this was sorted in the 1970s. Your point about Adventurer's League having fixed lore is dead on.
Everything else is in the hands of the individual DM. Some of us do it all ourselves; others follow the published structures on that whole Driz'zt level. Even though we don't all match, it's all valid. I work very hard to make clear what my DM style is, etc. so players can quickly sort out if my table suits them. Thanks to online play, the number of choices people have is exponentially better than it was in the days when we'd stick our phone numbers up on a card at hobby stores.