My World [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

My World [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Mistress_of_Mockery
12-28-07, 12:07 PM Hey.

I've always wanted to create my own world for my D&D games, ever since I began playing. I've tried to sit down and do it a couple of times, but whenever I do that, the ideas just don't come the way they're supposed to. So where do I start? I'm not too sure either.

I'm hoping this thread will keep me focused and'll commit me to making my world, I'll post here whenever something hits me, and hopefully by the end we'll have a nice, big world to play in.

Feel free to give comments (not yet, there's nothing to comment about) or suggestions,
~MoM
Naderion
12-28-07, 02:20 PM I think the best way to start is to think of all the fantasy worlds you know and write down what you really like of them and what you think is cool.

For me, that was the huge wildernes, the Wights and Wraiths, and the ghost world of Middle-Earth; the dark-elves, elven civil-wars, ancient Netheril, and the North of Faerūn; the plaguelands and Outland of Azeroth; and much more.

What also works very well is the reverse: Take the D&D core books and see what you think your setting doesn't need. For my world, I decided that I don't need both halflings and gnomes, and kicked one out. Monks didn't fit in very well, as well as paladins, so both classes don't appear in my setting. I like a somewhat realisitc approach on my setting, so I tried to somewhat limit the number of humanoid races (Middle-Earth has six, Azeroth has about a dozen). With orcs more Warcraft-like, they are very similar to hobgoblins, so the later became redundant. Also I hadn't any idea what monster-role the minotaur, and only the minotaur could fill, so I left it out too. I don't like manticores and don't see a regular use for blink dogs either, so none of them too. I ended up with 18 humanoid races, three completely new, three others noticeably redisgned.

Start with these two steps and you shoud end up with a much clearer image of how your world might look in the end. Repeat the first step with countries and nations from settings you know and which you think should appear in your world in some form. I included a version of the High Forest, Amn, and Rashemen of Faerūn, destroyed Lordareon from Azeroth, still intact Grey Havens from Middle-Earth, and ancient norway and iceland and a country inspired by both egypt and japan. When you have thought about all this, it's really not that hard to start with a rough map and see which races live in which lands and how they are positioned to each other. Where you need oceans or great rivers or mountain ranges to seperate two nations from each other and so on.
seTiny
12-28-07, 03:48 PM There are various approaches to starting a world.

Like Naderion said ask yourself what you like and don't like.

Ask yourself what the you want the relationships of the races to be. Do you want to use the stereotypical relationships or has something happened in your world to strain the relationship between halflings and humans?

Is there any niche that the current races are not filling that a new race can fill?

What level of magic do you like? Low/No where magic is rare and special. Medium, where few have the abilities to use magic and it is not part of everyday life. High, where almost ever commoner may have minor magical talents.

How do the magical classes get their powers in your world? Is there a centralized formal training ground for wizards or are the secrets of wizardry handed down in master and apprenticeships? How did Sorcerers get their powers? Do sorcerers exists?

What technology level do you like? Low, where fighters are using wooden and stone weapons. Medium, about what standard D&D is. High, steam is starting to emerge as a power source, and gunpowder is more readily available.

Do you like psionics? Does it have a place in your world?

What is the overall theme of your world?

These are just some things to think about. I would suggest starting small.

Create a single nation. Give them a history, and a present. What kind of government are they? What do the people think of the government? What is the life style of the average commoner? Is it a richer nation full of academics or a poorer nation of loosely affliated farmers and other craftsmen?

Once you have the first nation created or even partially created (you will probably go back and make changes as you go) think about the next (with some of the questions above) and what relationship it might have with the first. Free trade? Friendly? Are they constantly at each others throats, with countless outposts at the borders?

So on and so forth.

I like to use this template when creating a nation:

(Name of nation)

Capital:
Population: (How many people and what is the racial makeup)
Exports:
Imports:
Languages: (What is spoken there)

History: (What happened in the past to make the nation what it is today?)

Industries: (What kind of work can one find most prevalent when they come to this nation?)

Life and Society: (What is the average commoner's life like?)

Government and Politics: (How is the government run and how do they come into power? How do they rule ?)

[B]Power Groups:(What groups besides the governments hold power here? certain guilds? A Cult? Etc...)

Religion: (Who, What, and How do the people worship? Are there other religious groups in the nation other than the main)

Major Settlements: (Some of the major cities and brief descriptions on them)

Places of Interest: (Places that aren't cities, they could be on the country side or within other cities)
Kolbold_WyrmGrafter
02-04-08, 04:53 PM This helped me greatly, thank you.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mistress_of_Mockery 12-28-07, 12:07 PM	Hey. I've always wanted to create my own world for my D&D games, ever since I began playing. I've tried to sit down and do it a couple of times, but whenever I do that, the ideas just don't come the way they're supposed to. So where do I start? I'm not too sure either. I'm hoping this thread will keep me focused and'll commit me to making my world, I'll post here whenever something hits me, and hopefully by the end we'll have a nice, big world to play in. Feel free to give comments (not yet, there's nothing to comment about) or suggestions, ~MoM
Naderion 12-28-07, 02:20 PM	I think the best way to start is to think of all the fantasy worlds you know and write down what you really like of them and what you think is cool. For me, that was the huge wildernes, the Wights and Wraiths, and the ghost world of Middle-Earth; the dark-elves, elven civil-wars, ancient Netheril, and the North of Faerūn; the plaguelands and Outland of Azeroth; and much more. What also works very well is the reverse: Take the D&D core books and see what you think your setting doesn't need. For my world, I decided that I don't need both halflings and gnomes, and kicked one out. Monks didn't fit in very well, as well as paladins, so both classes don't appear in my setting. I like a somewhat realisitc approach on my setting, so I tried to somewhat limit the number of humanoid races (Middle-Earth has six, Azeroth has about a dozen). With orcs more Warcraft-like, they are very similar to hobgoblins, so the later became redundant. Also I hadn't any idea what monster-role the minotaur, and only the minotaur could fill, so I left it out too. I don't like manticores and don't see a regular use for blink dogs either, so none of them too. I ended up with 18 humanoid races, three completely new, three others noticeably redisgned. Start with these two steps and you shoud end up with a much clearer image of how your world might look in the end. Repeat the first step with countries and nations from settings you know and which you think should appear in your world in some form. I included a version of the High Forest, Amn, and Rashemen of Faerūn, destroyed Lordareon from Azeroth, still intact Grey Havens from Middle-Earth, and ancient norway and iceland and a country inspired by both egypt and japan. When you have thought about all this, it's really not that hard to start with a rough map and see which races live in which lands and how they are positioned to each other. Where you need oceans or great rivers or mountain ranges to seperate two nations from each other and so on.
seTiny 12-28-07, 03:48 PM	There are various approaches to starting a world. Like Naderion said ask yourself what you like and don't like. Ask yourself what the you want the relationships of the races to be. Do you want to use the stereotypical relationships or has something happened in your world to strain the relationship between halflings and humans? Is there any niche that the current races are not filling that a new race can fill? What level of magic do you like? Low/No where magic is rare and special. Medium, where few have the abilities to use magic and it is not part of everyday life. High, where almost ever commoner may have minor magical talents. How do the magical classes get their powers in your world? Is there a centralized formal training ground for wizards or are the secrets of wizardry handed down in master and apprenticeships? How did Sorcerers get their powers? Do sorcerers exists? What technology level do you like? Low, where fighters are using wooden and stone weapons. Medium, about what standard D&D is. High, steam is starting to emerge as a power source, and gunpowder is more readily available. Do you like psionics? Does it have a place in your world? What is the overall theme of your world? These are just some things to think about. I would suggest starting small. Create a single nation. Give them a history, and a present. What kind of government are they? What do the people think of the government? What is the life style of the average commoner? Is it a richer nation full of academics or a poorer nation of loosely affliated farmers and other craftsmen? Once you have the first nation created or even partially created (you will probably go back and make changes as you go) think about the next (with some of the questions above) and what relationship it might have with the first. Free trade? Friendly? Are they constantly at each others throats, with countless outposts at the borders? So on and so forth. I like to use this template when creating a nation: (Name of nation) Capital: Population: (How many people and what is the racial makeup) Exports: Imports: Languages: (What is spoken there) History: (What happened in the past to make the nation what it is today?) Industries: (What kind of work can one find most prevalent when they come to this nation?) Life and Society: (What is the average commoner's life like?) Government and Politics: (How is the government run and how do they come into power? How do they rule ?) [B]Power Groups:(What groups besides the governments hold power here? certain guilds? A Cult? Etc...) Religion: (Who, What, and How do the people worship? Are there other religious groups in the nation other than the main) Major Settlements: (Some of the major cities and brief descriptions on them) Places of Interest: (Places that aren't cities, they could be on the country side or within other cities)
Kolbold_WyrmGrafter 02-04-08, 04:53 PM	This helped me greatly, thank you.