From time to time, while working on the Exalted setting, I’ve incorporated real-world details into my writing. (For the record, Exalted is a high fantasy rpg that attempts to combine the best of high fantasy, anime, magitech, wuxia, low fantasy, and plenty of death-defying dramatic moves.) This brought home to me the difference between giving players the true version, the interesting version, and the version that they want.

The true version is obvious enough, and is often exemplified in GURPS sourcebooks. Here, the facts have been meticulously researched, the dates are correct, the bad points of the history and location and culture are stressed as well as the good points, and factors which might prove a disadvantage to specific types of PC are noted down without any attempt to soften them. (Such as the lower place of women or foreigners in certain cultures, for instance, or the fact that you can’t just buy a gun at the nearest shop in that particular country.) Sometimes
sourcebooks of this sort also provide guidelines for how to adjust the background or remove certain options if they are inappropriate for a particular campaign, but this is far from the rule.

Next we have what one might call the interesting version. This, like the Ars Magica books, involves starting off with the truth and… improving it a little. Usually these are also meticulously researched, in order to get the basic grounding correct and the “feel” right, but not all the research is necessarily used. Such a book may start off with the principle of “Rome in the Dark Ages” and then add the twist of “and magic works” in order to produce something which is grounded in reality but incorporates further material. Another example might be the Full Metal Alchemist universe (anime or manga), which is basically early twentieth century with alchemy included and different geography. The basic accurate grounding is indispensable; it provides a genuine feeling of reality to the setting that should not be discounted. Other notes are added, accentuated, or adjusted later. Perhaps a cultural facet is edited to allow participation by both genders, or to permit some sort of acceptance for other races. Maybe there are notes about how Dark Ages Christianity really can coexist with magic under exceptional circumstances — such as those which the players will be participating in. It’s reality, but it’s been edited to allow for more play.

Thirdly is the version that everyone really wants to play in. If it’s India, then there must be elephants, and rajahs, and tiger hunts, and thuggee cultists, and cross-jungle chases in the monsoon. If it’s a boarding school for would-be wizards, then there must be boarding houses, and spells, and potions classes, and threatening teachers. These settings start with reality and then move into all the things that players want to encounter. Inspiration may be drawn from reality, or from books, or movies, or casual inaccuracy. Very few people would let an appearance by Sherlock Holmes slip by without an, “Elementary, my dear Watson!” despite the fact that the character never actually used the phrase. Pulp demands dark masterminds, two-fisted librarians, car chases, gunfire, daring reporters, mad science, and all the other usual memes. Tibet requires lamas, yak butter tea, weird Buddhism, snow, avalanches, and green gloves. It’s about giving the players — and, to some extent, the GM — the toolbox they want to play with. Realism isn’t the point, and cultural balance is only relevant where it contributes to the plot.

All these three options really do require a high level of research — either because the writer wishes to remain accurate, or because they want to find interesting titbits to incorporate. However, it helps the writer if they have an idea of which basic concept they’re going with, and how far they want to take it.W