Levers to Pull

In the Adventure Learning System Post, I mentioned something about how before starting a game, the players and DM might have a dialogue to settle the "parameters" of the game, and give everyone an idea of what sort of ideas were going to be used and explored.

Here's a list of some basic parameters, or setting-keys which are most commonly fiddled with. This is also for my reference, since in my mind a really good rules-system should be able to accommodate the whole range of setting.

1. Technological Level
What is the level of technology that the Player Characters are familiar with? Will they be interacting with groups of higher or lower technological levels? Is the control of technology central to the happenings of the scenario? Are the consequences of a given technology central to the scenario? Do some player characters have access to a higher or special form of technology?

2. Races and Species
What species may the PCs be? Keep in mind that the available species define much of what is "normal" in the setting. What species or races are alien to the PCs? Is the interaction between the players and an unknown or contentious entity central to the scenario?

3. Magic
Is there magic in the setting, or simply technology? What is the scope of magic? How does it work? What does it require or cost to do magic? Do PCs understand magic, or is it a mysterious force? If the PCs do not command magic, who does? And how does it affect the PCs? Is magic a subtle , mysterious thing, or is it something familiar to the players?

4. Mortality
Are the PCs organisms subject to decay and ultimately death? Is dying a case of Terminus Est or is death somehow mitigated by resurrection or cloning or file-backups? Mitigating the results of death tends to result in Dungeon Purgatory; in which death is no longer a condition of failure, and the condition of failure has to be something else.
Moreover, do the philosophies of the setting have a clear idea of what becomes of a person after death?

5. Scope & Scale
What are the bounds of the scenario? Is it a story about a house or the whole town? Is it merely a dungeon or a whole realm? Will the conflict be between nations or is it a galactic concern? Are we discussing the evens of an afternoon, or an epoch? Who is the "other" in this scenario? Is it orcs, or extraterrestrials, or a next door neighbor?

6. Cosmology
How is the world laid out? Are there alternate realms/dimensions/spirit-worlds which the scenario will touch? Will the world be imitation the cosmology of a particular mythology?

7. Hoi Polloi or Persona Non Grata?
Are the players powerful and respected, or are they mistrusted - perhaps shunned? Is having authority and giving orders part of the play experience? How secure are the players in their authority? Or will the PCs be underlings coping with the whims and orders of their superiors? Perhaps a bit of both? Is gaining power and respect a fundamental element of gameplay?

8. Nomadic or Sedentary?
Are the PCs going to be rootless adventurers? Do they follow opportunity or necessity? Is the vagrant lifestyle easy or sustainable? Or do the PCs have some sort of home or community? How much stake do they have in their community? Do they have friends or wealth, and how secure are these things?

9. How many characters?
How many characters will a player be running?  Most of the time, players are encouraged to run a singly character and invest in that one character? But suppose PCs are more expendable? I have not played in any games where we gleefully rolled up a new character every other session, so I don't know what sort of play experience this would foster. But I'd give it a shot. Also, what if players are allowed to control multiple characters? I have heard of this working well. I think having multiple characters would encourage players to maintain a wider perspective on the game.

10. Business or Pleasure?
Will the PC be serious about what they are doing? Will they be systematic and rigorous? Or are they less professional? This attitude may seem trivial, but it has a big influence on where the players will concentrate their attention in game. Imagine the difference between a squad of soldiers under orders, and the glorified vagrants which comprise the cliché adventurer party. These two groups will play in very different ways with different levels of focus.

I'm sure this is just scratching the surface. There has got to be countless levers to pull at the outset of a game. But these are the sorts of questions I might ask myself when thinking up a new campaign. Right after the big one: Wilderness, Urban  or Dungeon?