Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dues_Ex_Mindflayer 04-18-08, 01:37 PM	As a preface- Im sorry if this thread has been done before. I have looked up and down (and even sideways) on this board and found nothing too similar. Anyways, to sum up my situation in a nutshell, I (along with several of my friends) have taken up the mantle of creating a new campaign world for my local game store. We have all been playing D&D for a good while now (about 4 years, were all only in our early 20s or less) and think we are perfectly capable of doing this, and have been making great progress so far. HOWEVER, we have no experience in this aspect, and would kindly ask the seasoned vets to come out of the woodworks and post their general tips and whatnot when building a campaign. To set an example of what tips I wish to amass here (and hopefully use to assist our work) I will post a few tips myself. 1- Avoid new rules. 2- Its better to use a old rule or system creatively then #1 3- A general "plot" is ok, but making your campaign world a story with people playing is a bad idea. Thanks in advance for the assistance. :D
taradusis 04-18-08, 07:23 PM	I usually reccomend setting up a large island chain. The bahamas include hundreds of islands,80 of which are inhabited. This allows you to have a pirate campaign,trade campaign and Age of Exploration campaign. Having numerous islands allows you to have isolated cultures,each of which can be customized by one of your cohorts. It also allows you to have an episodic style of play,sort of like the Enterprise visiting new worlds every week. I have a random aqautic notes thread with some island concepts you can borrow. Happy Trails.
Half_Dragon_Infernal 04-18-08, 08:44 PM	Another example of what the above poster said is what Oceania turned into.
taradusis 04-19-08, 11:51 PM	Throw in a few world-wide villainous organizations like Hydra in the Marvel Comics? Make a recurring villain or opponent for the Pcs. The Oceania thread is 1006870.
yellowdingo 04-21-08, 02:18 AM	Only the DM knows the World. Geography 1. Do a Globe in colour Pencils on a Piece of Paper with a d20 Polygon printed on it. Then scan that and print off a copy and cut it out putting it into its 3D form. It Provides the DM with a basic idea of what each triangle surface region is like geographically (colours describing large areas of green blue, brown, yellow). 2. Do a region (a couple of Triangles each consisting of 4,000 miles per side) on an A4 and do them in colour pencil. That provides the DM with a lot of territory to play in. 3. Then select a very local area on that regional map and put your PCs in the Local Area. They might live in a kingdom that wont even be big enough to mark on the regional map but that is where you develop.
yellowdingo 04-21-08, 02:31 AM	Good DMs make nasty Villains. NPC Development The tyrant terrifies his subjects. Spying balefully on the world from his strongly fortified palace, as sensitive to approaching prey or predators as a spider delicately balanced at the centre of a web, he dominates the life of all around him. He takes credit for the achievements of nobler men who spend their substance on civic projects, like great churches and other fine buildings. Entertaining the ambassadors of foreign powers at his own table, he makes decisions that affect the well-being of all of his subjects without consulting anyone except his favorites. He turns his entire state into a machine for his own profit and that of a few friends. And he does not shrink from robbing wealthy men of their possessions or pure young women of their virtue. All threats to his sole authority he resists with absolute ferocity. 4. Read the “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli; and “Treatise on the Government of Florence” by Friar Girolamo Savonarola. 5. Make the Villains players in the conspiracy, not patsies.
yellowdingo 04-21-08, 02:42 AM	Secrets, Lies, and Rumors. Developing Good Campaign Secrets We had quested for the assorted component parts of a magical flying ship crafted by a Wizard named Arago the Puzzlemaker finding them in Dragons lairs, Princes treasure vaults, and even mounted above bars in Taverns. Had we considered why Arago had even broken it into parts, we would have noticed the forces of evil circling to take what we had found. 6. The real treasure is the secrets to be found across the campaign world. Make sure you develop some good ones that make use of every aspect of your campaign setting. 7. Do a 100 Secrets of the World List. Just the Basic ideas. You can develop them later. Some will interconnect making them part of the larger network of conspiracy. 8. Now create a list of 1000 Rumors that you can throw into the Campaign. Some will be deliberate lies, others ignorance. Again, some will be part of a larger campain network of interacting ideas.
yellowdingo 04-21-08, 03:08 AM	A web of Interacting Possibilities. Contemplating a Network of interacting Ideas 9. So you have all these cool ideas and you noticed that some interact with each other. This is good. Now you build up an Idea of how your NPCs and these Ideas relate. In some cases campaign events might be related to obscure and trivial events (a Murder of a rider on a streach of road by a unit of the Barons horsemen might be a conspiracy to kill a prince or the slaughter of a horse-theif). Now would be a good time to draw up a network of NPCs, and the ongoing events, Secrets, and rumors they are linked to. 10. What happens in the world is fluid dynamics in Possibility. If you do something that changes the direction of something that would have happened elsewhere, it could show up some place else.
taradusis 04-21-08, 04:44 PM	Not a human world? Poll your group and see what sort of races they like to play. A group that is elf-centric or dwarf-centric would enjoy an empire of 1 million elves or dwarves? Consider picking up savage species and making a minor species like Minotaurs more prevelent by using the level adjustment method.