Diegetic Interactions
Most of the time as GM we don’t dive deeper into the minor details of our world and it’s functioning. Usually it is for the better, as not every game requires the same attention to detail, but doing so can help us improve one of the most important, yet often overlooked parts of creating an enjoyable and engaging game – a sense of reality.
The above mention small details can make a world of difference with right players, who want to fully immerse themselves into your setting, but remember to always talk with them to get to know if this is what they crave, as here mismatched expectations can create a lot of bad feelings and possibly lead to game falling apart, as this is not what they have signed for.
Details
The details can be a wide range of things depending on what one is trying to achieve – these can be local customs or festivals as players are passing through a place, but instead they get dragged into the celebrations. It can be something small as slightly varying prices depending on a time of the year and a region.
Some, like me can have a spreadsheet with priced of different mundane goods the players may want – for example different kinds and tiers of clothes. With that different peoples my react different: an industrialist may disregard them while they are wearing some commoner clothes, but welcome them in if they are wearing noble ones.
It is important to find what kind of detail will be the best for your campaign and group combination allowing it to be unobstructive and immersive, as without one of these it may be to the detriment of your or players’ enjoyment.
My method
As in many parts of running TTRPGs I was inspired by a hit Chinese book series Lord of Mysteries and how it approached the daily lives of these larger than life figures. Even when achieving high status and becoming esteemed (or feared) the financial side played a large role in settling the reader into this constructed reality – each meal and each purchase feeling real, as the point of reference was solid and imaginable.
I started by choosing the base currency for my world, which was renamed silver, as in reality most people would not be dealing in gold and the copper was kept for smaller purchases. I’ve started small with 10 categories of the most basic items, that the character in the setting may want and separated them into 3 tiers, depending on the affluence of the person buying them. From there I kept branching out and adding things as I’ve seen fit, gathering quite a library, that would be a little to be to be shared here.
Nonetheless I’ve never lost the sight of my original goal – building something that may immerse my players without becoming a burden. The last part was most important for me, as adding layers upon the game may make it a slog.
Final Words of Advice
Remember to always stay in touch with your players, as knowing what they want and if this is something right for them may save you a lot of negative emotions and a lot of trouble. Start small and if they enjoy it build upon it, making it more and more complex, without over-complicating it, as perfect is the enemy of good.
This is more of a “filler” article, as I have a lot to do in my life right now, but I hope you’ve enjoyed it anyways and potentially learned something new. I’ve been also working on a few bigger tools for the website that may or may not see the light of day, but if they do trust me the wait will be worth it.
Also often times, when dealing with higher stratas of societies there money is not that much of a currency, as status and influence – when you have all the riches they stop to matter, and in later stages of DnD it is normal to reach this point.
All said here is just an example given of how I recommend and how I do things, remember to keep a world yours and treat this more as something worth considering, but not necessary to run a good game.