Every Game Needs a Torenson

[Aurin]

Something that I've been thinking about a lot recently is that Fading Suns is an incredibly rich setting but it's difficult to convey some of the themes due to the complexity of the issues. Given that the setting is so in-depth, it often requires the players to have a fairly strong understanding of the source material, which can be difficult (in any roleplaying game, for that matter). In most tabletop games, the GM is the one that owns the books and knows the most about the game, both setting and rules, and it's his job to create the proper mood for the game and administer game mechanics.

The solution that I found in my most recent game was to introduce a studious, pious Torenson noble as an etiquette advisor / valet for the noble PC in the group. I've used the PC to be the voice of the setting for both noble etiquette as well as for the church. The Torenson noble is constantly worrying (nagging) the noble PC about the proper attire for the social engagement, the most appropriate greeting to the visiting duke, etc. He also frets about the threat of technosophy on his compatriots as they travel in their starship and he is incredibly xenophobic towards all aliens. He is an incredible useful tool for helping educate my players on the material that we all enjoy so much. Plus, it gives the PCs a sounding board to basically speak to the GM.

Does anyone else run into this issue, or is it just me? I've really liked my solution to the problem, but I'd love to hear how you all address it in your games.

[Angelman]

That is a brilliant solution, Aurin! I think you deserve a Nobel Price for GM genious for that one :p
Convaying setting info without reverting to GM exposition rant is difficult, but this is certainly a good fix. How do you handle it in the game? The Torenson character is a player character, right? Do you tell the group what the character says, or do you convey information to the player to pass on to the rest og the group?

[Bertjammin]

I do similar to this in that I guided one of the players towards playing a Torenson and essentially "feed" him material about ettiquette and correct behaviour that he then brings into play.
Likewise I feed religious and clerical information via the priest player, tech and guild stuff via the scraver and Imperial, military and legal gubbins via the Questing Knight.
I give them relevant facts and data for stuff I expect to come up (and also extras so as not to spoil plot) & find that they then naturally bring it up in character.

[Aurin]

I run the Torenson noble as an NPC and advisor to the al-Malik PC. That's the method in which I feed him (and the group) information on setting material.

Bertjammin - that's the exact issue that I struggle with in my games. It seems awkward to me to have this exchange:

Player: "I meet the noble."
GM: "The Duke's reeve advisor escorts you into his private parlor. A few moments later, the Duke enters through a secret door from the other side, followed by a handful of his attendants and closest confidants. What do you do?"
Player: "uhhh, how am I supposed to address this guy?"

In this scenario, I need to tell him that the proper address is XYZ, then he will immediately parrot back "okay, I do XYZ." I want to train my players to actually know that XYZ is the right thing to do ahead of time. I've been trying to do that in character. So before the meeting, the ever-worrying Torenson will come up and say, "My lord, if I may have a brief word. I've been reading through a brief essay from 'Strange Customs of Cadiz' by Sir Emerol Torenson. Yes, I know the book is over two hundred years old, but I believe that this passage in particular still applies. In addition to XYZ, the typical noble greeting for a lord of this status, to show how appreciative we are for such a timely audience, I would suggest, if my lord allows, that we also do ABC, to impress the good Duke."

The next difficulty that I have is moving this to the technical side of things. Let's say the starship's engines are hit during a pirate attack. A player will always ask "okay, what are my options?" I want him to *know* his options already. I don't have a good way to approach this other than the parrot method (above), but I've considered writing SHORT (1-2 paragraph) readings that will be pertinent to the game to provide characters a week before so their characters will be prepared to do the right in-character thing to not break up the action. How does everyone else deal with this?

[Bertjammin]

For our group it's normally emails and text messages between games and we seem to have fallen into having an impromptu Q&A session at the beginning of the game where the guys will bring up these sorts of things.

[Aurin]

Nice. Care to share a copy of one of your emails that you sent? I'd love to get more ideas from this.

[Bertjammin]

The emails will vary according to the subject matter and character really.

One example was a brief paragraph I sent to the player of our Imperial Knight explaining how I saw and interpreted his powers while another that went to the whole group outlined the correct form of address for each rank up to and including Counts (as that was all they were likely to meet at present).

I think it's a case of passing bits piece meal (as the more you give them at once the less they'll take in) and not fret too much if they get it wrong to begin with. They'll improve over time and the more you can maintain the "in world" style and language the more they will pick up on.

As a side note when I ran a one-on-one scene with our priest player he called a "time out" to check what would be an appropriate "official church" response so that he could then decide whether his character would do that or whether he'd go against the orthodox view. I think that's a key - just because a Torenson/social better/GM tells the character what they should do it's a perfectly valid choice for them to "buck the trend" and act against the norms. But they ought to willingly know they are doing that.

[Leviathan of Maddoc]

We use an alternate Ruleset so the PCs can be their own Torensen.

Most of my players are fans of fluff but I've run a few games where the formal addresses and etiquette is a bother the the players who have characters that would know better so they just say that their character intends to show the personage respect and it's not something I make a player jump through hoops for.

If you like having fancy addresses and court rules I think the only important thing is that you make sure that the rules are logical and consistent. Maybe also give players that would know their way around court a clue of what's expected. Players don't enjoy being lost.