Brief thoughts on implied settings

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I finally found the time to read Nova's post on hyperdiegesis, which, among other things, has taught me a new word. I love implied settings in fiction, and Nova cites some of the best ones with Blade Runner and M John Harrison's works, however, I think with tabletop RPGs, it's all about finding the right balance between known to all and implied.

As I have written about previously, I also think it is very helpful for players to have a basic understanding of the world they are playing in, but these two things need not be in conflict. Hyperdiegesis is not about the blank spots on the map, but rather about the "known unknowns". Hyperdiegesis, as I have understood it, is about putting placing things in the consciousness of the players without elaborating. Rather than empty space, the map may have the "Lower Marlborough Lake of Fire", which has only been visited by the most daring adventurers. If the player characters (or indeed the players) wish to know more about it, they can try to travel there (an adventure!) or try to gather what scant information they can (maybe also an adventure?), or they might just know that the Lower Marlborough Lake of Fire exists out there somewhere.

I do think, it has to be used in moderation, however. Unless the table is committed to communal "worldbuilding as you go", it is nice to have an idea of where your character is from, if you are not to feel unmoored from the world, unable to ground your characters in a shared understanding. Of course, if you don't want to spend a lot of time thinking about backstory detail, a quick hyperdiegetic summary can also work well: "Stabby Leon grew up a street urchin i the slums of Grimsleigh, after his parents passed away in the great fire of Sarah's Moon". Here we have established the existence of Grimsleigh, a city large enough to have slums, as well as the great fire of Sarah's Moon, an event that happened within Stabby Leon's lifetime. At this point, I would probably mark the location of Grimsleigh on the world map. The details of the great fire, and the meaning of "Sarah's Moon" are both ideal to discover through play, if the players are interested.

Essentially, the hyperdiegetic information can serve as a sort of "lite version" of rumour tables: they provide colour to the world, making it seem large and alive, and ideally, inspires the players to seek out adventure within it.

I think that worlds built primarily through hyperdiegetic information may also be less intimidating to new GMs (depending on whether they are more intimidated by remembering lore, or by improvising on the spot) - if the details are unwritten, there is less to remember, and less to "get wrong". For me, this makes the game much easier to prep and run.

A good set of touchpoints for the implied setting are also a great way to get me hooked for running a game, some of my favourite examples of this are Songbirds 3e, His Majesty the Worm, and MÖRK BORG.

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