Blast From The Past: Rules of 3

I tend to run two models of role-playing game sessions: the one shot game and the mini-series.  I rarely indulge in the long form campaign, my attention tends to wander quickly. I find inspiring my players relies on three elements: building emotional investment, sharing narrative control, and being on the same tonal page.  Just about everything players say matters and has weight, unless they're quoting Galaxy Quest.

3 x 3 x 3 - Building emotional investment - I found this on the old 7th Sea forums years ago, and works wonders for making everyone feel interconnected with the setting and each other.  The idea is have the players create 9 NPCs connected to their character - three friends, three acquaintances, and three enemies.  Don't require it all at once, have them create 1 - 2 before each game session and insist on no more than three sentences each.  Suggest cross pollinating the lists so some of the characters have mixed relationships with the same NPC. Then insert them into the narrative at any dramatic opportunity, as opposition or working cross purposes to build conflict.You mzy not use all of them, but try to squeeze in at least one NPC from each player.

 

It can contribute to a certain Guiding Days of All My Children's Hospital feel to things, making it feel like a small, melodramatic setting.  On the other hand you are establishing and spotlighting character backstory in a front staged, interactive way, rather than exposition.  Be sure to eschew backstory novellas when you do this, since it'll just be wasted work.

Tell Me 3 Things - Sharing narrative control- This is from the back of John Wick's Houses of the Blooded.  One of the core elements of role playing is the idea that you are adopting another persona, one who lives, breathes, fucks, and dies in the collaborative fantasyland.  So collaborate already.  

Expanding on the idea of the improv principle of 'Yes, and...' when my players meet an NPC or go to a new place I ask them to tell me something that they know about that place or that person, until three things have been said.  Everything stated is taken as fact on the surface, validating their fictional selves and further building out the setting.  Anything could possibly be rooted in half-truth or flat out deception further complicating things for the players and adding depth.

Share inspiration -Same tonal page- These practices are built on the conceit that your players are interesting and intelligent people that you want to role-play with. Also the idea that role-playing is a collaborative medium, none of us are as strong as all of us. This can go awry if you're all going in different directions, for example sci-fi is a broad genre and if you want to run a game that meditates on economic nihilism then you want to keep things from getting too Hitchhiker's.  

You can get everyone on the same page in two steps: 1) talk about the sorts of associated media so there's an established baseline of genre assumptions 2) make characters in a group so everyone can brainstorm character concepts and gel their relationships.  The player characters are the most important characters in the campaign, providing perspective and coloring events with their agency and motivations.  If you have most of the PC's are in line with Dark Matter, but there's one selfish Zaphod then the whole thing can go sideways, very fast.

Whatever your grand designs for fantasyland; if your players don't care, aren't enjoying themselves, and showing up out of obligation then you've failed. Loosen the reigns and share the narrative with them, as they've shared their time and presence with you. 

This month's theme is Inspiring Your Players. the seed article is here.

RPG Blog Carnival: Potions and Patent Medicine

The stoppered glass bottle is synonymous with alchemy and its base unit: the potion.  The majority of adventure games relegate it to resource refresh, restoring lost health and mana.  A universal consumable that taxes the characters economically, and only extends their survival.  That's boring.

The historical practice of alchemy, like sympathetic magic, is an untapped vein of weirdness in tabletop games.  Whether mystic protochemistry or an occult recipe for gnosis this system of protoscientific philosophy is full of possibility. I'll focus on mystical protochemistry, since pursuing the Magnum Opus is more structural than material in games.  Often consumable magic is already present, or can be added with little effort, in the form of drugs, pharmaceuticals, and quack medicine.  Magical cocktails like those served in SwitchFlipped or the sorcerous shine sold in speakeasies in A Criminal Magic are two examples of the potion as drug.

In Wicked West you are occult prospectors who exploit the Otherworlds and introduce them to the power of gun.  Your greed and opportunistic actions poison the Tree of Life, and worst of all -you aren't alone.

In the Wicked West, potions are patent medicine by another name and just a few of the varied products you can get from the Medicine Show.  Alchemical concoctions serve a variety of functions with a range of quality from Poor (-1) to Good (+3), roll when you deploy it to determine how effective the admixture goes.  Quacks don't practice the most rigorous QC on their admixtures

Epoxies - An adhesive resin composed of two separate chemicals separated in the bottle by a thin wall, you can throw the container or pour out the contents. Creates the Aspect "Glued in Place" that can be compelled once for free to prevent the target from moving.  If you succeed with style "Glued in Place" can be compelled twice.

Infusions - Various plants and animals contain chemical and sympathetic qualities that can be leeched from them via submersion in alcohol, oil, or water.  When consumed they create a minion skill in FAE at the infusion's quality, example: drinking an Average Unicorn Horn Infusion gives the character Resist Toxins +0.

Solvents - Industrial solvents and acids can be used to eat through most obstacles, rolling the concoction's quality determines the amount of time it takes to work through the process.  If you apply heat, you can also use a solvent as a gas attack.

Unguents - Greasy ointments, most are refined from animal fats and used to coat the body.  Demand for these are high, especially among prospectors heading into known Spheres with dangerous environments.  For example, an unguent made from Uktena grease allows you to breathe underwater and grants 1 point of ablative armor.

This month's RPG Blog Carnival theme is potions.

Gently Used Grimoires and Tomes

“Then, idly scratching his nose, he walks to the bookcase in the living room and stoops before a set of drab brown Victorian volumes gathering dust on the second shelf from the bottom.

How amusing, he thinks, as he withdraws one of them-amusing that a key to dark and ancient rites should survive in such innocuous-looking form.

A young fool like Freirs would probably refuse to believe it. Like the rest of his doomed kind, he'd probably expect such lore to be found only in ancient leather-bound tomes with gothic lettering and portentously sinister titles. He'd search for it in mysterious old trunks and private vaults, in the "restricted" sections of libraries, in intricately carved wood chests with secret compartments.

But there are no real secrets, the Old One knows. Secrets are ultimately too hard to conceal. The keys to the rites that will transform the world are neither hidden nor rare nor expensive. They are available to anyone. You can find them on the paperback racks or in any second-hand bookshop.”  - T.E.D. Klein, The Ceremonies

Mystics, warlocks, and their ilk share one fascination - a desire to be remembered after they have left the world, to stave off their memory's demise. In the past they would take an apprentice, but in the modern age it is much easier to self-publish than ever before.  In spinner racks and recycle bins, the starry wisdom of the ages is available to the truth seeker at bargain prices.  Be wary, the knowledge within will fundamentally change who you are and how you grapple with the world. 

When you read a magic tome, roll +Sharp: on a 10+ you choose 2 Benefits and 1 Backlash, 7-9 you choose 1 Benefit and the Keeper chooses 1 Backlash and 6- receive no wisdom from this tome, for good or ill.

Benefits
Take +1 forward when applying the book's subject to a task. (ex: when you read a book on demon summoning you have more knowledge to draw on when summoning demons.)
Recover 1 point of Luck

Ask 1 question of the Keeper, expect authorial distortion. 

Backlashes
You are drawn to a person or place.
Attract unwanted attention.
Driven to distraction,  -1 forward to off topic rolls. 

A magic tome can only be gleaned once per group of hunters. 

Pelles Holocaustorum (Latin for 'Skinning')
Originally written in Mesopotamia, the Pelles Holocaustorum has belonged to several occultists and mystics through the centuries.  The modern translation was written by the infamous Russian mystic, Rasputin.  The book outlines an escalating series of self-inflicted initiations allowing the initiate to peel back the skin of reality and access its pulsating organs and twisted musculature.
Add the following Benefit and Backlash to the read a magic tome move.
Benefit: You may ask the Keeper 2 questions which they must answer to the best of their ability.
Backlash:  Take 2-harm as your limbs involuntarily begin your initiation.

Great Albert

Relatively common in the Southern United States, this book represents the pinnacle of Albus Magnus' quest for enlightenment.  Finding himself too base to undergo the Grand Transfiguration, the alchemist instead had parts of himself cut off and mixed with ink so he could literally pour himself into the Work.  Since then his essence has been difffused and all copies of the memoir bear matching traits: they weigh as much as a grown man, readers hear the author's voice in their heads, and once you've picked it up, you're stuck with it.  Unless you give the book a funeral.
Add the following Benefit and Backlash to the read a magic tome move
Benefit: You can use magic to create a philosopher's stone.
Backlash: Part of your body petrifies, probably a hand.

Spiritist's Telegraph

Recovered from a sinking library boat in the Ten Thousand Islands, the Spiritist's Telegraph provides a step-by-step guide to attuning yourself to astral frequencies and those who haven't moved on.  Further chapters detail how to invite the broadcasting entities within and similar mysteries.  Overall leaning on the metaphor of spine as antennae for the Otherside.
Add the following Benefit and Backlash to the read a magic tome move
Benefit: You may interrogate distant ghosts when you investigate a mystery.
Backlash: You're lost in the ghost's narrative and rush off to fulfill part of it.

The Verse of Kings
Brought to France by the Swan Knight and entrusted to the Merovingian dynasty, the Verse of Kings empathically selects its readers in pursuit of its own agenda.  The book details the responsibilities of would-be rulers and provides prophecies to those it feels are "worthy."  The book isn't actively malevolent, just understand that anything it shows you serves a greater purpose.
Add the following Benefit and Backlash to the read a magic tome move
Benefit: When you manipulate someone take +1 forward to further manipulate them.
Backlash: Become obsessed with a scrap of prophecy, sacrificing anything to attain the dream.

This month's RPG Blog Carnival theme is the Ways of the Wise, click the image below if you're interested in other fine entries from other fine blogs.

RPG Blog Carnival: Wizards, Magi, and Warlocks! Oh My!

Early in Christendom's history magic and sorcery are forbidden, but practiced, disciplines granting mastery over the Invisible World of spirits, angels, and demons.  Whether "playing God" or "exerting Man's primacy" the study did not abate and many magi glimpsed too much behind the curtain of reality.  Burdened with knowledge Man was not meant to know some go mad, some spread the knowledge through secret societies and others become monsters.  Outside of prescribed occurences, they do not mingle or share their iniatory knowledge with outsiders or each other.

Below are three sorcerers entagled with forces beyond mortal ken for Monster of the Week.

Kathulos, the Skull Faced Sorcerer - The Outright Monster
Rising from an ancient sarcophagus in Victorian times Skull-Face has been playing the long game. Tendrils of criminal influence slither from the House of Dreams, his franchise of movie theaters. As films lull audiences into a false sense of mental security they become hypnotically programmed to commit crimes after receiving a particular trigger.  Hapless antiquarians and professors around the worlds find themselves besieged by a mob seeking Atlantean artifacts. His network of enforcers, informants, and other assets aim and collect from the rioters once it's done.

Monstrous Motivation Queen - to possess and control
Powers
Mesmerism,Un-Dead, Alchemy, Magus
Harm-  Withered Claws 1-harm, messy, magic, armor piercing Armor- Un-Dead toughness armor-3 Health: 13 Health
Unique Moves
 Elixir of Life - this alchemical concoction is administered to all Kathulos' enforcers. While under its effects minions and monsters deal +2 harm in hand to hand and gain +3 Health. The potion causes physical dependence and death if the user can't consume it regularly.

Sepulchral Womb- when Kathulos is killed, he rises from his sarcophagus on the next new moon.

Counterspell- When a hunter rolls +Weird against the monster, reduce the success level by one.

Good Granny Bulloch, Appalachian Witch - A Lesser Evil
Living in the high hills and backwoods of Appalachian as long any can remember, she weilds a quiet tyranny over the small logging community of Goodberry's Hollow.  With a bucker of milk, a dram of blood, and a shovel she killed the postmaster's wife after he wouldn't give her a stamp.  She'll fix anyone who crosses her, you just can't prove it.  Best to hide behind your SATOR squares and hope this she-devil doesn't come to your house asking for a cup of sugar.

Monstrous Motivation Parasite- to infest, control, and devour
Powers
Face of Innocence, Magus, Shape Thief
Sineater
Harm-  The Devil's Ladle 3-harm, magic Nailgun 2-harm, messy Armor- charms braided into her skin armor-1 Health: 12 Health
Unique Moves
Worm in the Apple - Anyone who owes Good Granny Bulloch a favor bears her worm in their ears, it shares their senses and takes over their bodies when they are willed to do so.
Counterspell - When a hunter rolls +Weird against the monster, reduce the success level by one.
Iron Nails - Good Granny Bulloch can hex any place or person that has one of her iron nails stuck in it.  They look like normal nails with hair wrapped around it. She has these loaded in her nailgun.

J.P. Faust, Diabolic Soulbroker
Some people are always looking for shortcuts to success, eager to avoid toil at any cost. These are the sorts that J.P. Faust and Associates are looking for. Offering a broad portfolio of demonic mortgages and infernal futures he will provide whatever you desire for a fair price.

Monstrous Motivation Sorcerer- to usurp supernatural power
Powers
Sense magic, Goetic Magic, Surrounded by muscle
Harm- handgun 2-harm Armor- Goetic seals etched into his flesh provide armor-2 Health: 10 Health
Unique Moves
Accidental Summoning - Goetic seals require blood for activation. When J.P. takes harm a Goetic demon is summoned. 

Outstanding Debt- J.P. can't be slain until his accounts are balanced. If he takes 12+ points of damage in a scene he becomes a Walking Wound, then things get worse.

This month's RPG Blog Carnival theme is the Ways of the Wise, click the image below if you're interested in the other entries.  Come back later for mystical tomes and grimoires these bastards hide their secrets in.

RPG Blog Carnival: Gates & Portals in Kismet

Aperture Tapestry -  Produced in pairs and singly sold in secret, these magnificent textiles conceal magic of great utility and devilry.  The calligraphy across the top is a riddle that provides clues to the tapestry's activation phrase. Solving the riddle causes the central geometry to unfold a dimensional pathway that leads to the mated tapestry. Woven by the witch women of the Leopard Queen's heresy, possession is akin to membership in the eyes of zealous clerics. 

Traversing the filled space is not without odds hazards abd opportunities. The pathways butt against the little big places of ensnared djinn. Many the daring thief has been trapped with their marks. 

Heaven'sWord - Commonly crafted in the Hanging City of Teshra, these wondrous items resemble the Warlanders' idolatrous Living Carvings. A palm sized cube of bronze, etched with the names of the Almighty, in it's inactive state. Uttering the command word causes the 99 Hallowed Names to spread vine like, filling any aperture or hall it's in (DC 20 to break through.) Activation in open air forms a piece of  calligraphic sculpture and against a wall, a lattice you can climb (DC 5.)

Living Carving - These are figurines of wondrous power, carved from the wood of the Living Tree.  In addition to their normal abilities, they can also cast an appropriate 1st - 2nd level Druid spell 1/day.

This month's RPG Blog Carnival theme is Portals & Gates, the seed article is found here

RPG Blog Carnival: The Good Neighbors

"Man creates gods in his own image, and the gods which literature has handed down to us, Thor, Bran and Pallas Athene among other, reflect the aspirations, the love of war, honor and poetry of their worshippers who were basically the aristocrats of their respective societes.

However, the people who had no written language, and at whose dwellings the travelling Bards did not call, must have had their own divinities.  They had local gods who looked after their crops, their houses and the vagaries of weather.  These deities could be blamed for tragedies and blessed for good fortune.

While the beliefs in Pantheons of thunder gods, war gods, gods of love and poetry has survived in classical and medieval manuscripts, the simpler rural gods have lived on by means of oral traditions as faeries."
- Brian Froud, Faeries

Localized, pantheistic scraps kept sacred in the hearts of believers through the long, monotheistic night.  Across the globe, wild spirits, house gods, little people and associated folklore punch above their weight in the human subconcious, even in the modern day.  While salt over the shoulder and a bowl of cream may appease your average brownie, the demand for blood and lives runs high as well.  When there is no offering, they take what they're owed.

Taniwha (Maori)
 Living in aquatic depths, Taniwha personify dangerous currents or deceptive breakers.  By lairing in  treachous waters, they function as protective guardians of people and places.  In some traditions they covet a human wife, turning vicious and predatory by envy.
Monster Queen - to possess and control
Powers
Elemental body (Water), Crushing Force, Lair
Harm- Taiaha 2-harm Armor- Soft like water armor-2 Health: 6 Health

Unique Moves
The Taniwha can only be killed in its lair.  If it takes enough damage to die, it disperses instead.
When the hunters miss a roll; the Taniwha reforms and stalks them through the pipes.  On the next miss it attempts to pull one of them through a grate, sink drain, etc. 3-harm (someplace too small for them to fit) and into his Lair.

Leshii (Russian)
A spirit of dark forests, the Leshii delights in leading humanity astray. Whether misleading lights, confusing direction, or outright Faustian bargains; the more people die in his woods,  the more powerful he becomes. After such a long existence, the Leshii now conspires to swallow the world in dark glades and pluck the sun from the sky with conifer claws.

Monster Tempter - to draw others into evil deeds
Powers
Ethereal, Genius Loci, Shapeshifter

Harm-  Primordial Curse 3-harm, close, area,  magic, mark unstable.  Green shoots 2-harm, long, area, messy Armor-  Fallen pine needles and rotten flesh armor-1 Health: 14 Health
Unique Moves
Grant Magical Power. The Leshii may gift a human with magical ability. These sorcerous gifts are wild and strike back at their user on cruel ways. Like a Monkey's Paw.

Kelpie (Scottish)
Occupying the lochs and pools of Scotland, kelpies appear as attractive strangers and drown their would-be paramours. Once submerged they devour everything but the entrails, throwing the fleshy ropes to shore.

Monster Devourer - to consume people
Powers
Aquatic, Shapeshifter, Bound to the Depths
 
Harm- Slimy hoof deals 4 damage Armor- the Kelpie's supernatural nature grants armor-1 Health: 10 Health
Unique Moves
Black Water Honeytrap- The Kelpie approaches people near a body of water with a handsome or beatific mein. Flirting ensues. As soon as they touch, the victim is suddenly riding the fey beast and plunging into the water unable to let go. 

Sodden Brains - Keeping the skulls of its victims, the Kelpie will bargain their knowledge in exchange for terrestrial favors. You must ingest the stuff to obtain the information.

This month's RPG Blog Carnival theme is the Fae, click the image below if you;re interested in the other entries.

Blog Carnival: 5 Suns and Counting

 

The word apocalypse is derived from the Greek word "apokálypsis" which means "uncovering," a literal translation means "disclosure of knowledge" or "revelation."  Out of the Cold War's shadow, the Western world's apocalypse is mostly final with a faint scrim of humanity re-purposing the leftovers of before to prolong existence.  The prophecy of climate change and environmental collapse color this further, bleaching hope from a better tomorrow.  Every American generation likes to think that they lived under the Finale's oppression, our history is littered with false prophecies and lazy nostalgia cursing tomorrow with woes unborne.

Before the United States the New World was already home to several apocalypse cultures, at least the Olmecs, the Mayans, and the Aztecs.  They each provided their own perspective on the cyclical nature of the past, present, future, and the cosmos overall. Each epoch was marked by a divinity sacrificing their existence and donning the mantle of the Sun, the central celestial figure, stepping into a divine bonfire to burn saway everything nonessential but their core nature.Though a calamity wipes the world clean, there are  always survivors but they don't stay human.  This parallels the Norse Ragnarok and Jack Kirby's Fourth World,a succession of existences destroyed providing the bones for future histories.

The 5 epochs known are:

• Nahui-Ocelotl (Jaguar Sun) - The world was inhabited by giants, devoured by jaguars. The world was similarly consumed.
• Nahui-Ehécatl (Wind Sun) - Inhabitants survived by taking the form of monkeys. This world was torn apart by hurricanes.
• Nahui-Quiahuitl (Rain Sun) - A rain of fire pelted down, reducing the world to slag. Only birds and bats survived the catastrophe.
• Nahui-Atl (Water Sun) - The waters rose over neatly everything, inhabitants survived by becoming fish. A couple escaped by becoming dogs.
• Nahui-Ollin (Earthquake Sun) -The modern era, this world will be torn asunder by earthquakes.  None can say who will survive and what will be left of us.

 

The Nahui-Quiahuitl broke into countless pieces and fell to the world, wreaking havoc and scattering the Divine Bonfire.  Heavenly embers rode the seven winds and the sky was lit by the afterglow.  In his Inverted Palace the Lord of Bats demanded the divine flame's recovery, his subjects blotted out the glow with countless squewaking forms carrying out his command.  With no sunrise to break the search King Night was successful and gathered the remnants in the Inverted Palace.

Camazotz- Lord of Bats, King Night, Unslaked Thirst, The 4th Sun

Gulping down the Divine Embers, Camazotz stoked the Bonfire in his belly and ascended into the sky.  The Night Sun bathes the world in unlight, weirdling energies, and ultraviolet radiations.  Camazotz returned the transmogged refugees to  human form before he was consumed by his new role.  The Old Ways were reinstated, city-states were reborn, the castes were reformed, the War Lodges took their place in the Flower Wars, and priests freed courageous hearts from ribcages atop stepped pyramids.

 

Without a Sun to challenge their heat, the Volcanoes stilled their hearts and Killing Obsidian has become rare.  A scarcity forcing the War Lodges to scavenge the prevalent ruins of the technologically advanced Third Sun Empire and recover the secrets of Edged Light.  More dangerous to the user, initiates to the War Lodges have ample opportunities for practice outside of the Flower Wars, hunting down the wretched mutant beasts that stalk the 3 Lands. Great Hunts for these mostros are increasingly called as outlying settlements are found destroyed or submerged. 

In the Fall of Camazotz you are recently initiated Totem Warriors who are tasked with slaying a Rough Beast, but waters rise up from the Cenotes and rumors bubble that the Night Sun and his Empire must fall to have any hopes for the future.

This month's theme is the Apocalypse and the gameable bits of the End Times.  Tune in next week for Battledancers, Brujas, Death Priests, Totem Warriors, and more for Fate.

RPG Blog Carnival: The Weather Outside

As trails are blazed in the West and prospectors discover new pathways to distant Malum, the incidence of Weirdness increases.  Strange beasts stalk livestock and settlers, perpetuating a mythic existence in the mundane world.  Alien winds now blow through the doorways distorting weather patterns and giving rise to otherworldy weather paradigms, betraying the knowledge of almanacs and boosting the stock of stormseers across the frontier.

Weather as Setting
An unseasonable blizzard tore across the Panhandle until it reached a desolate roadhouse.  Trapped by snowfall and hungry winds, the PCs quickly detect a numinous prescence in the storm.  Of course there are several strangers present as well, full of sass and secrets.  The storm wants something or someone from the inhabitants, figuring that out is on the characters.
Hungry Winds - Aspects: The Winter's Fury, Oooooo! Shiny!Skills: Bite to the bone +3, Quick as a zephyr +2, Born yesterday -1 Stunts: I take what I want (+2 to strip possessions away from characters) 

The posse has chased the thief and degenerate gambler Velvet Verdoux to the dilapidated metropolis of New Orleans.  Ever since Good King Xango came across an open trail, he has made the Big Easy his home and sole holding in this world.  The U.S. Government have tried to intervene but only succeeded in killing his cheval.  Since the last assassination, he has closed all but one way in, the rest are choked with beasts and sentient thunderstorms.  Velvet found a way in, they can too.

Weather as Plot
Tycoon Jeremiah Wrong has the county under his thumb, he recently recruited a powerful fabulist into his Regulators.  The local settlers are going broke paying Jeremiah's racket, if they refuse to pay their plot will be cored out by tornadoes.  More folks are packing up and getting out while they can.  Just as they can easibly leave, they can be easily followed as well.

Fabulist stunt: I can whistle up a tornado but I get carried away, literally.

Houston has not lacked for rain this past week, torrents falling and resevoirs filling up.  This month's RPG Blog Carnival Weather theme came from Mortaine's Blog.  Check out other contributors here:

RPG Blog Carnival: Rules of 3

I tend to run two models of role-playing game sessions: the one shot game and the mini-series.  I rarely indulge in the long form campaign, my attention tends to wander quickly. I find inspiring my players relies on three elements: building emotional investment, sharing narrative control, and being on the same tonal page.  Just about everything players say matters and has weight, unless they're quoting Galaxy Quest.

3 x 3 x 3 - Building emotional investment - I found this on the old 7th Sea forums years ago, and works wonders for making everyone feel interconnected with the setting and each other.  The idea is have the players create 9 NPCs connected to their character - three friends, three acquaintances, and three enemies.  Don't require it all at once, have them create 1 - 2 before each game session and insist on no more than three sentences each.  Suggest cross pollinating the lists so some of the characters have mixed relationships with the same NPC. Then insert them into the narrative at any dramatic opportunity, as opposition or working cross purposes to build conflict.You mzy not use all of them, but try to squeeze in at least one NPC from each player.

 

It can contribute to a certain Guiding Days of All My Children's Hospital feel to things, making it feel like a small, melodramatic setting.  On the other hand you are establishing and spotlighting character backstory in a front staged, interactive way, rather than exposition.  Be sure to eschew backstory novellas when you do this, since it'll just be wasted work.

Tell Me 3 Things - Sharing narrative control- This is from the back of John Wick's Houses of the Blooded.  One of the core elements of role playing is the idea that you are adopting another persona, one who lives, breathes, fucks, and dies in the collaborative fantasyland.  So collaborate already.  

Expanding on the idea of the improv principle of 'Yes, and...' when my players meet an NPC or go to a new place I ask them to tell me something that they know about that place or that person, until three things have been said.  Everything stated is taken as fact on the surface, validating their fictional selves and further building out the setting.  Anything could possibly be rooted in half-truth or flat out deception further complicating things for the players and adding depth.

Share inspiration -Same tonal page- These practices are built on the conceit that your players are interesting and intelligent people that you want to role-play with. Also the idea that role-playing is a collaborative medium, none of us are as strong as all of us. This can go awry if you're all going in different directions, for example sci-fi is a broad genre and if you want to run a game that meditates on economic nihilism then you want to keep things from getting too Hitchhiker's.  

You can get everyone on the same page in two steps: 1) talk about the sorts of associated media so there's an established baseline of genre assumptions 2) make characters in a group so everyone can brainstorm character concepts and gel their relationships.  The player characters are the most important characters in the campaign, providing perspective and coloring events with their agency and motivations.  If you have most of the PC's are in line with Dark Matter, but there's one selfish Zaphod then the whole thing can go sideways, very fast.

Whatever your grand designs for fantasyland; if your players don't care, aren't enjoying themselves, and showing up out of obligation then you've failed. Loosen the reigns and share the narrative with them, as they've shared their time and presence with you. 

This month's theme is Inspiring Your Players. the seed article is here.