Setting: The Stage

Year End Thoughts... 
As the end of the year approaches, I sit and contemplate my 1st year experience with this, my first blog.  I gotta say, writing these posts, giving vent to my thoughts and emotions regarding my hobby has been a highlight of the year past.  This is fun, I get excited about writing posts and feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when a thought comes together and gets posted. So I think I'll keep at it a bit longer.
I have written about several games this past year, and that was my original intent, the "Beyond" part of the title. White Box D&D retains a special place for me and hence the title. I have spoken to other gamers and many, like myself, are heavily influenced by the first game that introduces them to the hobby.  There is certainly a bit of nostalgia at play, but the white box is much more to me.  I really value using imagination and adding a personal element to each game. While many fantasy roleplaying games support this, the white box demands it. The chaos in those three little brown books requires the player/referee to impose some degree of order, adding to elements which are incomplete or creating from whole cloth those that are totally missing.
The White Box, by design or blunder, gives a good fun game...most of the time. It is more referee dependent than many games and suffers when run by a poor referee, but what game isn't better with a competent, or better yet, inspired referee! Using the rules pretty-much as written, the so-called Vancian magic system makes magic manageable without being too overpowered. Combat results have a random element that keeps things lively, but it's tempered with predictability. After a couple rounds one can generally see where the combat outcome is heading giving the players a chance to scoot out, or maybe expend a limited resource high-level spell to change the momentum. And combat is fast paced, something I have come to prefer over super crunchy "realistic" systems. The AC and hit point systems allow the character to get tougher as they level up and acquire treasures, thus giving them the ability to take on even greater challenges.
As with any system, environment/milieu or game setting can greatly effect the overall fun level. It is at this milieu or setting level that the referee really creates the game in many ways.  The rules are how you play, but the setting is what you play. Some settings are better at creating an environment for adventure than others and it's not always the most well developed settings that do this. More to the point, I would say a setting, or milieu, needs to be well realized. The setting or milieu is much like the stage where players will act and the story will unfold. The referee needs to have given thought to how the setting handles a number of game requirements. On this matter I have a few thoughts I phrase as questions for the referee.
Regarding background history, does it help players create interesting PCs? Does the history affect the present in any meaningful way? How common is common knowledge? These are the kinds of queries a referee might use to help realize their setting. Who have been the actors on the world stage of the past? Were they PC types? Gods? Are there any adventure hooks that dangle from your world history?
Another referee query might be do you want the campaign to be epic in nature or personal? Are the adventure hooks consistent with that goal? What about patrons? Have you given any thought to who the PCs might work for? Are the NPCs mostly commoners or kings and queens? Is there a preset villain or do the PCs make their enemies along the way? How do you want to reward your PCs? What will be their motivation, wealth, fame, honor and glory, power? The rewards can shape PC motivation and how the players measure their success.
Magic and magic items are another area where the referee can greatly shape the environment of the game. What role does magic play in the setting? Does it act like technology, is it rare and feared? Is it tightly controlled? Does magic corrupt those who use it? How do PCs acquire magic items? Are there common items or are all magic items unique with their own history? Are magic items available for sale or manufacture?
Some game systems come out of the box tightly linked to a specific setting, others not so much.  White box has a bit of a default setting in the choice the designers make of classes, monsters, experience and alignment system, but it is also easily modified without breaking anything. For me this is a strong point in favor of the rules. I very much enjoy tinkering with my RPG as a creative outlet. As the year wraps up, I find myself back at the beginning, singing the praises of the White Box. It really has been a life altering experience for me.