A thing I’ve been doing for the last few SWM games I’ve run.

A thing I’ve been doing for the last few SWM games I’ve run.

Problem - SWM and RPGs in general are very open. Without a grounding in a setting it can be very difficult for all players (GM included) to have a shared vision of an encounter, scene, or heck even a predefined setting.

I’ve played and run SWM games where player perceptions never really line up. I’ve seen this in more traditional RPGs too. One thing I’ve been trying that seems to help is:

1) before play begins every player including GM states a single word or short phase that epitomizes Sword & Sorcery for them.

2) everyone then provides a brief explanation of “why”, including any details of what they hope to bring into the game from their term or phrase

This process seems to then have an effect on the phases as we move forward - even if it were subconscious or unintentional.

Example list for a recent game:

Hyborea
Scheming Guilds
Forming Bonds w/ Strangers
Magical Travel
Unexpected Transformations

And another:

Hyborea (ok guess which one is mine)
Low Magic
Finding Home
Camaraderie