I am Planning a creating a World/City [Archive] - Wizards Community

I am Planning a creating a World/City [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Apparit
05-14-07, 12:54 PM Do you have any reccomendations as to how I should go about doing so, more specifically the city, for example more commonly used templates, or perhaps a program?
Return of the Flumph
05-14-07, 01:35 PM I don't understand the question. What part of world building is difficult for you?
Apparit
05-14-07, 02:47 PM The usual process/template on world-building. Organising the information is the part of world-building I find difficult.
Araes
05-14-07, 02:54 PM A world city is just like any other world building project. It still relies on the same general concepts of how to go about even approaching the project in the first place, and how you need to seperate information. If you need help from books, there is a section in the DMG and some more information in the DMG 2. In addition, there are a number of books from Expeditious Retreat Press that cover creating a world, but with the influence of magic. With that, here's some general guidelines.

Create some of the general details and themes that you'll need to know approaching the world.

What is the maximum level of technology in your world at? Progress Levels (a concept from Modern) are one way of saying this. Some people also just say High / Med / Low tech.
What average level of technology in the world at? Is it at the maximum level, or is technology segregated in some way? How pervasive in normal society are the advances of the highest technology?
How powerful is magic in your world? Same idea as tech. Super strong earth shattering stuff, or very human scale, utilitarian things? Often High / Med / Low as well.
How common is magic? Can everyone use it or is it the purvue of the extensively studied elite, or some other segregation method?
How realistic is the world? Utterly cartoonish with no repurcusions for anything to insanely gritty with everything modeled after real world perception.
Is there a theme or style you're trying to aim for in creating the world? Noir, horror, high adventure, dynamic change, ect...? Try and carry this theme through the rest of your writing by looking at reference material based on the source. You probably already have something in your head as you've put forward a basic idea. Corruscant, Trantor, Ravnica, Otherland - there are tons of options for good world cities. Are the ideas in the fiction they come from something you are trying to replicate. Corruscant is probably a mix of high adventure and diplomatic intrigue. Trantor would be all about the decay of modern society. Otherland could be post decay of modern society and living in the remnants - Post appocalyptica.

Partition up your thoughts into a heirarchal pattern of manageable chunks.

Once you can do this pretty much everything else is gravy. There are generally two schools of thought to world creation. Both of the styles have their uses, and neither is better than the other. The two styles are refered to as "big to small" and "small to big" or "outside in" and "inside out". They are referenced this way to distinguish which details you start with when coming up with the world and where you progress to as you go further. In both cases of world creation though, it should be noted that you should treat the entire thing as a fractal process. This means that the larger scale a detail is, the less fine grain the information you create for it should be. IE, when looking at a nation, I'm not going to detail individual people unless they have a vast impact on the nation. However, when talking about a town or neighborhood, I'll be creating at least some of the people and maybe some of their equipment, items, ect...

Big picture creation

Think up some general ideas, concepts, and themes for your world.
Think of how nations or some other large population groups might integrate into this concept.
Think of one to a few specific locations within that world that you'd like to detail further that would be useful for PCs to be in (full of adventure hooks, ect...)
Think of the particular details for a region that you'd like the PCs to first encounter and that you think you might need.
Have everything else simply react normally to the PCs actions based upon their own agendas, make up the smaller details as you go, and watch the adventures progress.

Small details to big picture

Think up some small detail such as a village, a neighborhood, an adventure hook, ect...
Think of why that exists, what it wants or does, where it is.
Think of how the players might find out about it.
Think a little bit about how this local setting ties in with a larger world around it.
Think about those very large details that you think you might need on an immediate scale like religion and politics if they are important.

Know the needs of your audience and generally match the content to the needs

This can require some give or take, depending on the use for the world, but generally match the world's creation to what the users want.

If the world is for adventures, then it should be more tailored to a world that aligns with what your players like.
If its a world created for your own enjoyment, or for writing, then its more open based upon what concepts you are interested in or think would make for good writing.
In the case of a world for play, if your players are hack and slashers, give em stuff to hit or if they are larpers and diplomats, let em talk.
If they're a heavy mix, then give em some of each and watch the sparks fly.
Important: Players don't Always know what they want. Interspersed throughout solid material, try some new things and see how they respond. Don't gamble everything, but just work it in and see if they bite. If its been a lot of hack and talk, maybe a little bit of Sherlock Holmes style mystery, or some horror and suspense. You could find they have a new thing they want.

Let your players make up as much of your content as possible for you

In some ways, this is one of the bigger mistakes I've seen and heard lots of people make. They start feeling like they need to provide everything for the players and begin to stress out about it.

Player ideas are often better than your own ideas. Learn to recognize this by the reaction of the group and reward the behavior that generates it. Don't accept every concept they make, but pick off the good ones and steal those. (Just make them think that's what it was all along)
Every idea that someone else comes up with for you is one more idea that you don't have to make.
Apparit
05-15-07, 12:56 PM Thanks, that's alot of help.
Apparit
05-17-07, 11:49 AM Wondering if I could get a little more help, sure that gives me the basis for my city, but any idea how I could go from there?
Jürgen Hubert
05-18-07, 06:53 AM Wondering if I could get a little more help, sure that gives me the basis for my city, but any idea how I could go from there?

Read a lot - on any conceivable topic - and carry a note book with you everywhere you go. Inspiration can strike at the oddest places.

When reading on one element of another setting, you might think to youself: "That would be cool in my own setting!" Make a note of it, think of how to fit it into your setting, and then work out some implications. Repeat the process, and then think about how all these elements connect with each other. Soon, a more detailed setting will accumulate.

If you are truly out of inspiration, call up random Wikipedia pages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random) until you find something interesting.
Apparit
05-18-07, 11:31 AM It's not that I'm out of ideas, I'm definitely not, but as I emphasized before, organising my ideas is what I have trouble with. The guide given by Araes gave me a template for the introduction to my city, not how to organise the rest of the information. There's mountains of it. If you want I'll show you the introduction, and then you could give me an idea of how I should go from there.
Apparit
05-21-07, 04:33 PM Help, anyone?
Jürgen Hubert
05-22-07, 04:17 AM Come up with some sort of structure - think of it as writing different chapters of a book. You can simply take such a structure from an existing book (such as "Sharn: City of Towers") or make up your own.

Possible chapters include:

- History
- Political Structure
- Geography and neighborhoods
- Organizations
- Crime and Law Enforcement

Give these chapters subchapters as needed (for example, the Geography chapter would have individual neighborhoods as subchapters) and come up with a structure for these as well (for example, listing specific locations within a neighborhood). This should give you plenty of structure, and once you have taken the first steps, you know which blanks to fill out.

I've tried to do the same thing with Urbis (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=845294), and it is working well so far. I am using LaTeX for writing the document, which is convenient for me because it takes care of the Table of Contents and layouting, and making an index is pretty easy, too (though getting used to LaTeX itself takes some practice...).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Apparit 05-14-07, 12:54 PM	Do you have any reccomendations as to how I should go about doing so, more specifically the city, for example more commonly used templates, or perhaps a program?
Return of the Flumph 05-14-07, 01:35 PM	I don't understand the question. What part of world building is difficult for you?
Apparit 05-14-07, 02:47 PM	The usual process/template on world-building. Organising the information is the part of world-building I find difficult.
Araes 05-14-07, 02:54 PM	A world city is just like any other world building project. It still relies on the same general concepts of how to go about even approaching the project in the first place, and how you need to seperate information. If you need help from books, there is a section in the DMG and some more information in the DMG 2. In addition, there are a number of books from Expeditious Retreat Press that cover creating a world, but with the influence of magic. With that, here's some general guidelines. Create some of the general details and themes that you'll need to know approaching the world. What is the maximum level of technology in your world at? Progress Levels (a concept from Modern) are one way of saying this. Some people also just say High / Med / Low tech. What average level of technology in the world at? Is it at the maximum level, or is technology segregated in some way? How pervasive in normal society are the advances of the highest technology? How powerful is magic in your world? Same idea as tech. Super strong earth shattering stuff, or very human scale, utilitarian things? Often High / Med / Low as well. How common is magic? Can everyone use it or is it the purvue of the extensively studied elite, or some other segregation method? How realistic is the world? Utterly cartoonish with no repurcusions for anything to insanely gritty with everything modeled after real world perception. Is there a theme or style you're trying to aim for in creating the world? Noir, horror, high adventure, dynamic change, ect...? Try and carry this theme through the rest of your writing by looking at reference material based on the source. You probably already have something in your head as you've put forward a basic idea. Corruscant, Trantor, Ravnica, Otherland - there are tons of options for good world cities. Are the ideas in the fiction they come from something you are trying to replicate. Corruscant is probably a mix of high adventure and diplomatic intrigue. Trantor would be all about the decay of modern society. Otherland could be post decay of modern society and living in the remnants - Post appocalyptica. Partition up your thoughts into a heirarchal pattern of manageable chunks. Once you can do this pretty much everything else is gravy. There are generally two schools of thought to world creation. Both of the styles have their uses, and neither is better than the other. The two styles are refered to as "big to small" and "small to big" or "outside in" and "inside out". They are referenced this way to distinguish which details you start with when coming up with the world and where you progress to as you go further. In both cases of world creation though, it should be noted that you should treat the entire thing as a fractal process. This means that the larger scale a detail is, the less fine grain the information you create for it should be. IE, when looking at a nation, I'm not going to detail individual people unless they have a vast impact on the nation. However, when talking about a town or neighborhood, I'll be creating at least some of the people and maybe some of their equipment, items, ect... Big picture creation Think up some general ideas, concepts, and themes for your world. Think of how nations or some other large population groups might integrate into this concept. Think of one to a few specific locations within that world that you'd like to detail further that would be useful for PCs to be in (full of adventure hooks, ect...) Think of the particular details for a region that you'd like the PCs to first encounter and that you think you might need. Have everything else simply react normally to the PCs actions based upon their own agendas, make up the smaller details as you go, and watch the adventures progress. Small details to big picture Think up some small detail such as a village, a neighborhood, an adventure hook, ect... Think of why that exists, what it wants or does, where it is. Think of how the players might find out about it. Think a little bit about how this local setting ties in with a larger world around it. Think about those very large details that you think you might need on an immediate scale like religion and politics if they are important. Know the needs of your audience and generally match the content to the needs This can require some give or take, depending on the use for the world, but generally match the world's creation to what the users want. If the world is for adventures, then it should be more tailored to a world that aligns with what your players like. If its a world created for your own enjoyment, or for writing, then its more open based upon what concepts you are interested in or think would make for good writing. In the case of a world for play, if your players are hack and slashers, give em stuff to hit or if they are larpers and diplomats, let em talk. If they're a heavy mix, then give em some of each and watch the sparks fly. Important: Players don't Always know what they want. Interspersed throughout solid material, try some new things and see how they respond. Don't gamble everything, but just work it in and see if they bite. If its been a lot of hack and talk, maybe a little bit of Sherlock Holmes style mystery, or some horror and suspense. You could find they have a new thing they want. Let your players make up as much of your content as possible for you In some ways, this is one of the bigger mistakes I've seen and heard lots of people make. They start feeling like they need to provide everything for the players and begin to stress out about it. Player ideas are often better than your own ideas. Learn to recognize this by the reaction of the group and reward the behavior that generates it. Don't accept every concept they make, but pick off the good ones and steal those. (Just make them think that's what it was all along) Every idea that someone else comes up with for you is one more idea that you don't have to make.
Apparit 05-15-07, 12:56 PM	Thanks, that's alot of help.
Apparit 05-17-07, 11:49 AM	Wondering if I could get a little more help, sure that gives me the basis for my city, but any idea how I could go from there?
Jürgen Hubert 05-18-07, 06:53 AM	Wondering if I could get a little more help, sure that gives me the basis for my city, but any idea how I could go from there? Read a lot - on any conceivable topic - and carry a note book with you everywhere you go. Inspiration can strike at the oddest places. When reading on one element of another setting, you might think to youself: "That would be cool in my own setting!" Make a note of it, think of how to fit it into your setting, and then work out some implications. Repeat the process, and then think about how all these elements connect with each other. Soon, a more detailed setting will accumulate. If you are truly out of inspiration, call up random Wikipedia pages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random) until you find something interesting.
Apparit 05-18-07, 11:31 AM	It's not that I'm out of ideas, I'm definitely not, but as I emphasized before, organising my ideas is what I have trouble with. The guide given by Araes gave me a template for the introduction to my city, not how to organise the rest of the information. There's mountains of it. If you want I'll show you the introduction, and then you could give me an idea of how I should go from there.
Apparit 05-21-07, 04:33 PM	Help, anyone?
Jürgen Hubert 05-22-07, 04:17 AM	Come up with some sort of structure - think of it as writing different chapters of a book. You can simply take such a structure from an existing book (such as "Sharn: City of Towers") or make up your own. Possible chapters include: - History - Political Structure - Geography and neighborhoods - Organizations - Crime and Law Enforcement Give these chapters subchapters as needed (for example, the Geography chapter would have individual neighborhoods as subchapters) and come up with a structure for these as well (for example, listing specific locations within a neighborhood). This should give you plenty of structure, and once you have taken the first steps, you know which blanks to fill out. I've tried to do the same thing with Urbis (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=845294), and it is working well so far. I am using LaTeX for writing the document, which is convenient for me because it takes care of the Table of Contents and layouting, and making an index is pretty easy, too (though getting used to LaTeX itself takes some practice...).