Looking for game advice? Want to know our thoughts on something? Shoot us an e-mail at devteam@apathygames.com and it may become one the subject of our Dear Apathy column.

Dear Apathy,

When writing a setting or world book, is it better to explicitly state the type of world it is (have a sentence or two literally reading “This is a high-magic fantasy world, no steam or gunpowder or other industrialized tech. Humans are the vast majority over the other, dying-out races, and magic cards take the place of scrolls and potions.”), or is it better to use character class description, abilities, magic spell lists and equipment list, and simply having the setting’s information strongly suggested?

Sincerely,

­-Dan Suptic

Each week we answer a question from our loyal audience. Our question for this week is:

Dear Apathy,

My game sucks. I’ve got all this really awesome stuff, and my NPC’s rock, but none of my players seem to care. I’ve already had to evict one player from my game for lack of attention, and I have to shout at my players to pay attention at least twice a session. What can I do to make them more interested in my story?

–Jeffrey Carlsen | Apathy Games, Seattle, WA

Tone is a valuable aspect of your game. Here, I discuss what I know about tone and how to implement it.