Adding Flavor to Your Game Part 2

You can play D&D with a stripped down setting, you don’t need hundreds of years of history and lore to run a campaign. Indeed, excessive lore can bog things down and make players feel that they have a responsibility to learn a lot of information to be “fair” to the DM and respect the work that was done on the game. For other players this sort of thing can be utterly uninteresting, some people like the visceral thrill of the game, not the “trappings” of the fantasy world that underpin it.

Still, adding flavor to your game is an important part of immersion, the world can seem more “real” if there are details there that suggest it existed before the PC’s showed up. The key, I think, is to find a way to do this that doesn’t involve writing the Silmarillion. 

There are different ways to do this, but one that I find effective is to make flourishes, details that suggest greater depth without having to create all of that depth in the process. If you think about it, the real world is a lot like this. We don’t generally know all the details of the things we encounter, we see the surface, and that surface suggests a deeper level of meaning.

The “trick”, as it were, is to create those suggestive surface details, details that make the players feel like they are in a living, breathing world. I thought I would give a few examples from my own game to show how this can be done. My city setting has a number of features that suggest greater depth to the game world without having to create mountains of lore in the process.

A. Music!

It is good to tap into universals. Though there are some exceptions, I have met very few people who don’t like music of some kind, and music is sort of a cultural universal. From religion to entertainment, most people can relate to music in some way or another. So in my city setting, I have a few songs that appear during special events and such.

Bhavisyavanian War Songs

The city has an arena, and before the arena fights the combatants all sing a song to pray to death for quick release or victory. The song is sung to Yama, God of death, and on special occasions can also be sung to Kali or to Parasurama.

Note that the asterisk (*) indicates where the Warriors smash their swords against their shields to accompany the singing.

"All Praise Death"

- Song of the Bhavisyavani Gladiators

"Death*, Death*, ALL PRAISE DEATH! **

Drains your final drop of blood, pilfers your last breath*

Death clutches silently, Death makes you WEEP!*

Death comes, cloaked in dreams, to take you in your sleep.*

Death, Death, ALL PRAISE DEATH!**

Kings, queens, lords and ladies, all find final rest*

All are humbled by its power, all pay the PRICE!*

Burned, broken, torn apart or frozen in the ice*

Death...***

Death...***

Death...***

DEATH!

A rope strung round your throat,

A spear through your back,*

An arrow bites into your chest,

Hear the hammer's crack!*

A knife to your belly,

A sword in your eye,*

A boot pressed on your neck,

Crowds cheer as you die!*

Death, death, ALL PRAISE DEATH!**

By blade or bill or bloody fist, club, mace or iron grip

Poison, fire or acid drip, trembling fear upon your lip

Death is master of the ship...

ALL PRAISE DEATH!

B. Ghosts

The D&D world has ghosts, spirits of the long dead stuck in this world due to some unfinished task or some curse. Rather than treat these as a wandering monster that is just a bag of hit points I decided to create a list of prominent ghosts and place them in various locations in the city. The random encounter tables have a ghost entry, if that comes up I check to see if there is a ghost listed in that area of the city, otherwise I re-roll the result. 

Ghosts

Bhavisyavani has its share of permanent ghosts and spirits that wander the city, their existence fueled by the god who slumbers dreamlessly deep below. Some have been exorcised, those that survive do so as they are mostly harmless, they are revered for some reason, they have been clever enough to avoid destruction or they have been powerful enough to stay free.

A few of the more prominent are listed here.

Kallinshav's Daughter (B)

Kallinshav was a powerful wizard who served one of the first Houses in the city. He had a daughter whom he cherished, and unfortunately she was curious about what he did. One day she snuck into his inner sanctum and accidentally freed a powerful demon that ambushed Kallinshav and committed atrocities upon his person for weeks, all while his daughter watched on in horror. The guilt over what she had done was overwhelming, and when she died she came back and she now haunts the temple Ward. Appearing whenever demons are summoned she seeks them out to destroy them. She can appear in any part of the city, and will only oppose the party if they are aligned with a demon

C. Entertainment

We all like to be entertained, but we sometimes forget that in a fantasy world, entertainment is important as well. When I set up my city I wanted to make it a vibrant place, not just with theatres and such, but with artistic endeavours of many kinds. 

Entertainment

The city has music halls, opera houses and theaters. There are musician’s collectives as well as individual musicians and poets, writers and artists of all kinds. Street performers are common in certain wards, bubble artists, building climbers and jumpers, stilt walkers and pyrotechnic artists. Roving musical groups and individual minstrels wanders the city's entertainment district but can also be found in any other district in smaller numbers. Street performers dot certain districts and open air performances are common. Groups of dancers wander the streets of the entertainment districts and there are open air performance spaces as well. Artists will create works in public without notice, a painting made on your property is of immense social value, or could also be used to publicly mock or warn someone.

The city has gambling houses, bathhouses (public and private), restaurants, open food areas (firepits) where anyone can set up, taverns and of course private entertainments in various homes. 

Public dueling draws supervision from the city guards and an audience as the results of duals can bring down houses. Also, there is an arena where the elite warriors duel, fight monsters brought in, test hybrid creatures for combat, slaughter guilty prisoners and perform to show their combat skills. 

Other popular activities include maintaining elaborate private gardens, plant breeding and collecting, consulting astrologers and seers and "potion parties" where locals mix small amounts of unknown potions with alcohol then mix these together. Results are as listed on the  potion miscibility table but any damage is temporary and effects are limited to one hour. Locals also breed rare flowers and inhale their fragrances and inhale vapors from concoctions such as failed magical potions. As a result alchemists are fairly common.

Telescopes are extremely popular, used on tall buildings and on the surrounding walls to see across the city, and used by inhabitants to look at the stars and read portents. All moderately well to do citizens carry small telescopes with them and high quality scopes are the highlight at parties for prestigious citizens.

All illusionists in the city of prophecy are artists of some kind, many have studios or share space as part of artist collectives, some work privately. Illusionists are frequently found entertaining citizens with elaborate illusory retelling of exciting forays into the marsh where fantastic monsters were slain, myths and legends, and other tales both ribald and riotous.

D. Dress 

Being concerned about your appearance isn’t a modern thing, people have always used clothing and personal grooming to indicate status, availability, allegiances, that sort of thing. So I decided to establish conventions for the city to give it some depth and flavor. Note that the city is overgrown with plant life, flowers and vines cover all the buildings, and make it a colorful place).

Dress and Grooming

The city is green as it is covered in vegetation but it is also colorful as it is lined with flowers and multi-hued plants. Strange dress conventions abound, as the streets are so colorful due to the overabundance of foliage the wealthy dress in plain black and white, while commoners dress in wild colors and ensembles. The wealthy pay for garments that defy convention without color (e.g. a dress with an extended circular backing for the head) and the commoners pay for elaborate flourishes and flairs of color in their clothing. Dress is a sign of social status so tailors and dressmakers are always in demand. The city halfling population has split between running restaurants/taverns and inns and working as tailors.

Men are generally clean shaven or wear long, elaborately braided beards, multiple “pony tails” for beards are common, often tied off with rare metal wires or fine fabric ties. Men’s hair is generally cut short but styled elaborately on the top, alternately it is long but braided. Wealthy or high status women generally shave off their hair entirely and wear elaborate wigs made from rare animal hair and dyed various colors (earth tones, browns, oranges, yellows and reds are very popular) or they keep their hair long in a single braid. 

Barbers work in public, setting up in city squares in the morning and the evening, they have stools for themselves and their clients, and an iron bowl filled with water with a stand underneath. The bowl sits over an oil pot flame to keep it warm, and both shaves and haircuts are given out. It is most common for multiple barbers to set up in city squares at the same time, servicing multiple clients. 

Jewelry is a sign of wealth and power, silver is slightly favored over gold for jewelry, but both are common. Rings and bracers/bracelets are popular for wealthy men, necklaces, earrings and gloves of fine rare leather are popular for wealthy women. Tatoos are very common, and tattoo artists are common in most wards. For the most part women tend to wear concealable tattoos, men more obvious ones.

E. Social Conventions

Societies have thousands of conventions, rules that govern behavior, many of these don’t make a lot of sense to outsiders, but to locals they seem obvious. Just a few of these sprinkled into your game can create real flavor.

Social Conventions

Openly destroying plants or hunting animals on city land without permission is prohibited and punishable.

Any citizen or guest cannot be refused water or rice at any establishment that serves them. The public pool in the temple Ward is open to all as well, the river flows through the city and all are welcome to bathe and cleanse. The temples use the pool for rituals with the public as well as pools in their temples.

Creators/owners are responsible for the behavior of their pets/creations.

The traditional Bhavisyavani greeting is made in the following way. The party who approaches (person A) holds out their hands, palms together. The approached party (person B) takes their hands, palms together, and closes them on person A’s hands. Then they both bow their heads and say the traditional greeting, “khule haath, khule dil” (“Open arms, open hearts”) and person A breaks the handshake by pulling their hands apart. The greeting can also be done from a distance if circumstances call for it.

F. Festivals, Holy Days and Special Events

Cultures around the world have special days for various reasons, your fantasy world would likely have them as well. Festivals can be religious, but don’t have to be, and they can be role playing gold for the players, as you can make them as strange as you like, and if they are new to the area they can be a great source of fun.

I once had a group of adventurers arrive in the city on a festival day, they had NO IDEA what was going on but they really got into it, and there was zero combat or skulduggery involved, just pure, sweet social RP.  Festivals

Summer Solstice Festival – Also known as Agni’s Day, every home and business gathers wood for several weeks and on summer solstice they build a fire in their garden and cook for most of the day, preparing special dishes. Dinner is eaten and after dinner the fire is increased into a large bonfire and until midnight games of chance, cards, dice, etc. are played by the roaring firelight, and food is provided. At midnight paper lanterns with candles are lit by every home and business and set into the sky. If the winds are low and the lanterns move slowly it is considered a portent of a difficult year ahead, if they move swiftly it is taken as a sign of prosperity.

G. Birth, Unions and Death

There are certain universals to people living together, there will be births, marriages (or whatever unions are appropriate to your setting) and death. All of these have ceremonial aspects to them, and a great way to flavor your campaign world is to detail these out. Here are mine.

Weddings, Births and Funerals

1. Weddings: weddings are elaborate affairs in the city of prophecy. They tend to be large and festive, with representatives from Houses attending for all but the least important citizens. Attendants dress displaying the colors of the House of the person who asked for marriage (the “binder”), all officiants and servants wear the colors of the person who was asked to be married (the “joined”). Marriages in the city vary in their motivation, some are for property, some for influence, some to join the power of Houses, and even some for love. The ceremony itself takes place on water, usually on a canal boat near the temple of one of the binder or joined. The party to follow takes place in the home of the binder. All marrying couples must pay a fee to their temple for the officiant (only temple priests can officiate) and the procession from the canal boat near the temple to the home of the binder has the joined being showered with flowers as they walk and the binder is surrounded by friends who clear a path through the crowds with branches swept back and forth on front of the party. Weddings generally have ceremonies in the morning and the party starts in the afternoon and stretches to the morning of the next day. Whenever someone goes to a temple there is a 2% chance a ceremony is taking place on a canal boat nearby.

2. Births: childbirth in the city is handled by a sect of priests of Ganesha who function as midwives and deliver babies for all worshippers. When a woman goes into labor they are taken to a dark, quiet room in their temple exclusively reserved for birthing. The room is filled with steam created by pouring water on rocks and lit only with a few candles. The midwife/priests help to deliver the children and the mother and child generally stay in the temple for a week or so, gradually introducing light and regular atmosphere to the child's environment. When the child is born a dove or similar white bird is released from the temple, letting the extended family know what has happened. All children born in the city have automatic citizenship upon adulthood (14 years old). All children are referred to a "children of Ganesha" by priests until they are of age (calling someone a "child of Ganesha can mean, depending on context, that the speaker thinks them to be naive or stupid). Children born on holidays or special occasions (say a shooting star or eclipse) are sometimes taken by the priests directly into the priesthood. 

3. Funerals: funerals are generally carried out at the temple of the deceased's god. Mourners are expected to donate to the temple to attend. Funeral mourners wear white and remove their shoes during the ceremony. At the end of the ceremony the body is placed on a special platform atop the temple and Garudin (Aaracockra) carry it away to the top of one of their spires where birds pick the bodies clean. There are no gravestones in the city but families generally place an item of importance to the deceased on a mantle or in a place of honor along with an inscription to mark their passing.

There are many more of these, but this should give you the idea. Take things from the real world that are layered in culture and varied social practice and add them to your game. 

The flavor will be worth the effort.