No Higher Authority takes place in a Fantasy world - the sort of place you might see Elves, Orcs and Wizards. The world itself is left unspecific before the game starts, because there's a higher than normal level of player control over the world. As a guideline, anything that wouldn't be out of place in a D&D game or a sword and sorcery novel makes sense for No Higher Authority.

In general, the world tends to be broken down into various kingdoms, relatively close together - this creates the opportunity for plenty of political and military conflict as borders shift and monarchs change.

PCs are the most powerful figures in the game; there may be NPCs of the same power level, but there's no ancient wizard or smirking interventionist deity waiting to smack down a PC who goes too far - hence the name No Higher Authority. The only check against the power of the PCs is the power of other PCs. The power level means that players can play the sort of characters usually reserved for NPCs in fantasy games; archmages, emperors, demi-gods and monsters.

Each player has the option of defining his or her “home turf”; typically, a kingdom or region. The player can decide what sort of ruler the kingdom has, what its relations are with its neighbours, etc. The player can also decide what status and role they have in that kingdom. When the game starts, typically a player's first job is to present their PC, and a brief (3 or 4 sentences will suffice) description of the area he or she is in. The reason that this is relevant is that at any point, another PC can add in details by spending Story Points - which will be explained presently.