Advice?Detailed world [Archive] - Wizards Community

Advice?Detailed world [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Venais
07-20-07, 06:19 PM I have been dming a little while now and I really want to create a indepth world. Other dm's I have played with always didnt seem to quench my thirst for back story and I didn't mind. I really would like to create a extremely indepth world with maps and just lots of detail. Any advice or books or anything that can help me go about this. I just kinda get a hold of where to start.
058
07-20-07, 06:27 PM Giants In the Playground, the home of the Order of the Stick, has a large section of various player-made supplementary material. The last series is nine articles written by Rich Burlew on how to create a campaign setting. They are immensely helpful.

http://www.giantitp.com/Gaming.html

Suggestions from me, personally, would be to make sure your political groups (countries and the like) fit their roles. Setting up a system where a small change in the balance of power could tip the scales completely is good, because it gives players something to do (or be wary about).
Forfeit
07-20-07, 07:21 PM There are a lot of guides here and in a lot of places.

My opinion is that a world must have depth. Meaning you should start slow and gradualy build from there. Dont just draw a big map and try to fill it with generic vilages, towns and everything else.

I believe that quality is better than quantity. Make every big city count and have its own personality/culture. Be aware how the landscape influences the culture of the people living on it, and how the cities and realms build from there. It is better to have a few cities that the players get used to, know the people there, instead of a huge world where they go from place A to place B without discovering or learning anything about the land and people.

In my opinions, maps come after youve done a lot of work already. First get the ideas that you came with after creating some stuff, and only then you try to create the maps that fit your ideas.
Alltat
07-20-07, 08:54 PM I second the "maps come second" method, although doing it the other way around isn't necessarily wrong. Personally, however, I find that it works best if I already have a solid idea of what I want the world to be like when I start drawing maps. Also, don't be afraid to throw away your world map and start over from scratch a couple of times, keeping only the aspects you really liked.
Thanuir
07-21-07, 03:10 AM If the world is to be roleplayed in, put a lot of conflict, interesting politics, strange creatures, exotic locations, etc. there. Whatever you think should happen in games should be considered. Next, cut off the aforementioned elements that you can't neatly fit in.

If you are building a world for the joy of doing it, take a central theme or few and implement those as well as you can.
Ikuraut
07-22-07, 04:06 AM Personally I think that the maps coming first tends to help you graft the culture around it.
queenfange
07-24-07, 09:11 AM I recommend the "Inside Out" method. Create a small area, a single kingdom or even a town, and work out from there. As you expand and your adventurers move to new areas, tie together the different locales in some way, by a shared religion, trade rivalry, inevitable war, etc. to add versimiltude (sorry about the spelling). A detailed setting can't be made overnight, but if you regularly work on small bits, you'll be amazed at how much you can do. For my setting, I'm trying out the website www.eruvian.com which allows users to post settings as well as content requests, for other GMs to help flesh out their settings. Hope that helps.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Venais 07-20-07, 06:19 PM	I have been dming a little while now and I really want to create a indepth world. Other dm's I have played with always didnt seem to quench my thirst for back story and I didn't mind. I really would like to create a extremely indepth world with maps and just lots of detail. Any advice or books or anything that can help me go about this. I just kinda get a hold of where to start.
058 07-20-07, 06:27 PM	Giants In the Playground, the home of the Order of the Stick, has a large section of various player-made supplementary material. The last series is nine articles written by Rich Burlew on how to create a campaign setting. They are immensely helpful. http://www.giantitp.com/Gaming.html Suggestions from me, personally, would be to make sure your political groups (countries and the like) fit their roles. Setting up a system where a small change in the balance of power could tip the scales completely is good, because it gives players something to do (or be wary about).
Forfeit 07-20-07, 07:21 PM	There are a lot of guides here and in a lot of places. My opinion is that a world must have depth. Meaning you should start slow and gradualy build from there. Dont just draw a big map and try to fill it with generic vilages, towns and everything else. I believe that quality is better than quantity. Make every big city count and have its own personality/culture. Be aware how the landscape influences the culture of the people living on it, and how the cities and realms build from there. It is better to have a few cities that the players get used to, know the people there, instead of a huge world where they go from place A to place B without discovering or learning anything about the land and people. In my opinions, maps come after youve done a lot of work already. First get the ideas that you came with after creating some stuff, and only then you try to create the maps that fit your ideas.
Alltat 07-20-07, 08:54 PM	I second the "maps come second" method, although doing it the other way around isn't necessarily wrong. Personally, however, I find that it works best if I already have a solid idea of what I want the world to be like when I start drawing maps. Also, don't be afraid to throw away your world map and start over from scratch a couple of times, keeping only the aspects you really liked.
Thanuir 07-21-07, 03:10 AM	If the world is to be roleplayed in, put a lot of conflict, interesting politics, strange creatures, exotic locations, etc. there. Whatever you think should happen in games should be considered. Next, cut off the aforementioned elements that you can't neatly fit in. If you are building a world for the joy of doing it, take a central theme or few and implement those as well as you can.
Ikuraut 07-22-07, 04:06 AM	Personally I think that the maps coming first tends to help you graft the culture around it.
queenfange 07-24-07, 09:11 AM	I recommend the "Inside Out" method. Create a small area, a single kingdom or even a town, and work out from there. As you expand and your adventurers move to new areas, tie together the different locales in some way, by a shared religion, trade rivalry, inevitable war, etc. to add versimiltude (sorry about the spelling). A detailed setting can't be made overnight, but if you regularly work on small bits, you'll be amazed at how much you can do. For my setting, I'm trying out the website www.eruvian.com which allows users to post settings as well as content requests, for other GMs to help flesh out their settings. Hope that helps.