Setting Overview

Beneath the growth in a long-abandoned barn, a trapdoor leads to a secret weapon from a bygone era.

“Radiant Gorge” is home to hundreds of large, metallic statues which reflect sunlight throughout the canyon.

The depot colony, Modestiny, is alive with the bustling of industry as cargo ships pick up and drop off containers before sailing off to other star systems.

The setting is the location where the action happens. It’s the space where protagonists interact, where they exist, where they maneuver. But a setting is much more than that. In a CQ StoryHammer game, which relies on imagination, the scene setting provides the leads with clues and context for where the protagonists are and how they should react. The scene setting also suggests the dimensions, scope, and limitations of the scene.

When established at the beginning of the story, the setting descriptions are much larger, often providing a sense of culture, a sense of terrain and climate, a sense of overall mood. The setting is the most crucial tool that the narrator has to build an experience with the leads.

This chapter will focus on how to narrate settings, how to use settings to interpret game rules, and how to craft your own settings.