Sneak Attack - Canon in RPGs

[shawnmerwin]

The newest Sneak Attack for MMP patrons is out, and I talk about the concept of canon in RPG games. Check it out, then share your thoughts!

[Jared Rascher]

Oh do I have thoughts on canon.

https://knighterrantjr.blogspot.com/201 ... -that.html

https://knighterrantjr.blogspot.com/201 ... there.html

I think people get very confused about the purpose of canon. Canon should be a tool to track what is and isn't assumed to be included when creature future works. It should not be an ends unto itself. "Look how much canon I included!" is almost always a recipe for disaster.

From a publishing standpoint, canon is important to establish what people making official products should reference, and what they should not.

From a "game" standpoint, the best use of canon is to establish a common "language" about what is true and known about the setting BEFORE PLAY BEGINS.

This is why scope and tone are very important to a game. Will it even matter who the monarch of Cormyr is for this game? Is that potentially part of the scope of what the adventurers will be interacting with?

There is one aspect I wanted to touch on with this, however.

This is a point that I don't know if WOTC even really agrees on internally. Is the Realms important because it is the Realms, or is it a handy "default?"

If it is important because it is the Realms, then canon is also important in that you want to include aspects of the Realms, as a setting, that are unique to the setting, and for you to showcase things unique to the setting, you need to understand the current canon as agreed upon by the IP holder.

If its only important as default, then the main canon you are referencing are proper names. I would argue the split between unique or default can be found in the following:

Default

• Princes of the Apocalypse
  Curse of Strahd
  Tales from the Yawning Portal
  Tomb of Annihilation
  Acquisitions Incorporated
  Tyranny of Dragons

Unique

• Out of the Abyss
  Storm King's Thunder
  Waterdeep Dragon Heist
  Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage
  Baldur's Gate Descent into Avernus

The main reason I would argue that this tension can still be an issue is that even the "default" products spend time establishing elements of the setting, but that effort may ultimately not really help the overall product, so having a less complex default would probably be better.

And I would also like to add that my "default" list isn't a means of saying those are lesser products, just that I'm not sure if the amount of effort to coordinate any Realms specific material in them actually contributed to making them better products, or just contributed to more work.

Tyranny of Dragons Note: I know, they use the Cult of the Dragon, but it's really the Church of Tiamat, and it's very much a redefinition of a proper name. That said, The Rise of Tiamat skews a bit more towards "unique."

Aquisitions Incorporated Note: This is a weird case, because I know the game is technically based in Toril, but there is a lot of AI specific canon that already needs to be referenced, and . . . it's just really complicated. Again, this isn't a jab at AI at all, just the very weird feeling of a semi-parody meta campaign being entangled with the canon of an established setting.

[shawnmerwin]

Thanks for sharing all that, Jared. Some sound reasoning there.