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Every setting has intention

As GMs, setting is one of our most important tools. This world is fictional, it’s not real, and nothing exists until we say it does. Nothing is by accident. Everywhere the characters go has purpose and intention.

You can make this work for you by considering the threefold intention of every setting:

1. Diegetic (in fiction) intention - within the story, why are the characters there?
2. Narrative (meta) intention - what purpose does this setting have in the broader story structure?
3. Tone and atmospheric intention - how does this setting set the vibe for the story?

Often, people only think about 1 or 3: the space is there because they characters needed to be somewhere, or the space is there becaues of the vibes. But ideally, we want to consider all 3 at once.

In fiction

Let’s start from the fiction: fairy dust smugglers need somewhere to store the stolen loot. What kinds of places could they choose? It could easily be:

• someone’s home
• an abandoned house
• a underground tunnel system
• a corporate office they rented out
• a shipping container OR
• musty warehouse

We need somewhere that the players can go that will contain the item that we’re looking for: that’s the space’s purpose in fiction.

Narrative intent

Think of the role that space plays in the story. I’ve divided (most) fictional settings into these broad archetypes:

• Arena: somewhere to fight
• Library: somewhere to learn about the world or plot
• Tavern: somewhere to meet people
• Bank: somewhere to break into
• Jail: somewhere to break out of
• Sanctuary: somewhere to reflect and process
• Shop: somewhere to acquire goods to help you on your quest
• Dark Road: somewhere to feel uneasy, to raise the stakes and emphasize danger

The names of the archetypes are not literal: you could have an Arena that is a public library, or a Library that is a marketplace.

A space may serve multiple roles, but not at the same time. And a space may contain other spaces (ie, you break in to a museum [a bank] and loot the artifacts [a shop], then you need to break out [a jail]). The easiest way to navigate this is to literally have them move through one space into another space, but you can get fancy with it, if you like.

Because of who I am, I have opinions about what makes for a good setting for each of these archetypes.

Arena

: fight!

• Can be literally anywhere (people can fight in libraries!)
• Should be simple enough to describe quickly and give people enough context so that they can effectively use the combat mechanics of the game
• Should have some elements you can interact with in combat (potential improvised weapons, something you can hide behind on jump on)
• Can have additional risks to heighten tension or add “phases” to a battle (eg, you’re on a boat and it’s sinking! you’re in a haunted wood and the monster can animate vines to attack you!)

Library

: learn!

• Can include places where information is intentionally gathered (libraries, museums, archives) or places where it unintentionally gathers (crime scenes, abandoned cult headquarters)
• Some information should be easily discoverable, with more information discovered through succeeding on rolls or through creative thinking
• It should be clear what kind of information exists in this place — instead of “a library”, it’s an arcane library of cursed tomes. We should be able to quickly understand what kind of information is possible to discover here (largely so that we know when to move on).
• The amount of hints and guidance required will vary depending on the players’ real-world knowledge of these kinds of spaces, and their knowledge of the genre. Do they know how to search a crime scene? Do they know how to use a card catalogue? If so, let that knowledge shine! If not, you, as the GM, might have to fudge it for the fun of the game.
• You want them to explore the space, but keep it confined enough that they don’t waste infinity time here. It should have a clear delineation of space.
• Decide in advance whether or not giving information to only one player will ruin the fun or add to the intrigue, and design your space accordingly. If you want to have it possible for only 1 player to know something, consider writing it in a note that you can pass them!

Tavern

: meet!

• Should be a space where you can meet strangers and friends, and where chatting with strangers is normalized and appropriate (a mess hall, a festival, a market)
• People in the space should already be doing something. Maybe they’re having a heated game of poker, maybe they’re hawking their wares or enjoying a meal, but they are alive and doing stuff.
• People can leave the space easily. It’s sometimes hard to end a conversation (… in real life and in fiction). Having NPCs exit the scene will facilitate this.
• These spaces can be quite “open world” — players can explore, improvise, get creative, and use it in unintentional ways.

Bank

: break in!

• God, I love a heist. But this can also be part of a rescue, reconnaissance, or another type of mission. A good ol’ dungeon crawl would fit the bill, too! The motive to break in needs to be clear and compelling, and it needs to be obvious when they’ve met the goal.
• This space should be designed to keep people out.
• There should be multiple kinds of obstacles that are encountered in series (not all at once, that’s confusing).
• Elements that limit time can help a lot — players tend to discuss how to go through a door for 20 minutes so it’s always good to have something that forces them to keep moving. Maybe there’s a patrol that comes around every hour or they’re relying on a distraction that will only keep people occupied for so long or the building is about to collapse. The best time limiters are ones you can hint at (”oh no, you’re doddling and you hear a CRACK a huge fissure clefts the wall to your left — it’s still holding, just barely”)
• Keep directions simple and spaces contained. If it’s too “open world”, people will get confused. Consider making the space one-way only (you can only go forward).
• Consider second, worse chances in case of failure. If they stuck, stumped, or just cannot proceed, how can you keep it moving while making things worse for the player characters (such as adding more stressors, shortening time, or adding obstacles)?

Jail

: break out!

• A maze, a prison, a dungeon — somewhere you don’t want to be! This is essentially the Bank in reverse.
• It should be designed to keep people in.
• The space should be unpleasant: if it’s too nice, maybe they’ll just want to hang out.
• Pretty much all the other stuff from Bank applies.

Sanctuary

: rest!

• A campfire, an inn room, a friendly townsperson who let you stay the night. This is a safe place to unwind and it should feel safe. Little descriptions about how cozy a house is or how pleasant the fire is go a long way.
• The environment should be contained (the players have to stay near each other) and relatively isolated (no one else, or few other people, are here) to encourage players to talk to each other.
• I usually leave these scenes up to the players, letting them add cozy elements to the space and encouraging them to start conversations with each other. This starts to get more into tone and atmosphere than narrative role, but they work together.
• You can add a “conversation piece” to prompt discussions. Maybe you’ve set up camp in an abandoned temple with a crumbling statue of an old god. Maybe the constellations are extra bright this evening, and draw portents in the sky.

Shop

: acquire!

• A market, a mysterious being with boons to offer, an armoury to rob. This where you acquire things (or immaterial stuff, like boons or abilities) to help you along.
• The rules of the space should be clearly defined and enforced by the space. If it’s a shop that’s supposed to be purchased from and not robbed, maybe it’s plainly visible from the street, and the shopkeepers’ 3 children are here, and also they have a bazooka. Whatever it takes. Ambiguity of how we’re “supposed” to use the space leads to confusion: the “correct” way should be clear, and if players choose to do something else, they’ll at least understand the consequences when they occur.
• The range of things that are available should be clear. You can make a list to hand the players (if we’re doing an old-school shopping episode), or making a narrow scope of the kinds of things that would be in this place and letting them fill in the blanks (it’s an ancient trove of weapons, hidden deep within a cave system — what’s there? cool ancient weapons).
• If you’re playing a game that uses shudder currency, consider the value of the items in advance in relation to other things in this world.
• The space should be contained. People shouldn’t be wandering in an out, or getting too separated.

Dark Road

: fear!

• This should be a transitory space, since there isn’t actually much that happens here. Maybe your informant wants you to meet them in the mouth of a cave, or a desolate parking lot, or a crossroads at midnight. They might give you some information, but really, the space is there to make it freakier.
• The space should be isolated and poorly lit. It should feel dangerous, like anyone you meet here could kill you without immediate consequence.
• It should be clear that there isn’t actually anything here — as a GM, you can emphasize the emptiness of it.
• This space shouldn’t be utilized too much. It’s not as rich as the others. Even in a liminal horror, most of the spaces should have more purpose than just “making it clear you’re in danger”.

Atmosphere

The last role that a setting serves is atmosphere. We’re trying to make a VIBE. This will largely be determined by the genre and themes of the story you’re telling.

If it’s dark, gritty urban fantasy, let’s have the fairy dust stored in an abandoned factory, with rusted machinery and broken windows.

If it’s whimsical, silly low fantasy, let’s have the fairy dust stored on a pirate ship, or in a cottage.

If it’s gothic horror, let’s have the fairy dust stored in the cellar of a haunted manor, with portraits on the walls whose eyes seem to follow you as you move around the room.

While that might seem like a lot to think about while you’re trying to run again, I promise it will make your life easier, because once the player characters are in the space, they’re more likely to behave in ways that support the story instead of fighting it. You’ll have to do a lot less cat-herding if you make a space specifically designed to herd cats!