Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The Vorpal Tribble 12-14-05, 10:43 PM	A'ight, I've been working on a campaign idea now for some 8 months, at least. I decided to work out the world. Most of my campaigns I have a very decent ammount of background, but I wanted a full world this time. Its a wet, mountainous artic world and I've just been going rampant on the theme, history, geography... then I started in on the stories and stats of famous people and the more I think, I more ideas I get. The players are extremely unlikely to meet any of these famous folk, and some of them DIED maybe hundreds of years ago. But I'm wanting it complete. And the more I write the more ideas I get for adventures in the place and the more things I think of to help the players become immersed in the world. The only thing is though... I can't figure out when to actually start the bloody thing. I keep thinking, 'Ok, I got enough now, lets actually try to get this started...' but then another idea comes and I keep thinking, 'If I started now then they'd miss out on all this other stuff I'll be thinking of to make it even better.' and no matter how much I add, it just never seems complete. Anyone else have this problem? I know at least a few have, as I've read their stories about how they've been working on this world of theirs for many years and have only recently gotten it started. A few who've looked over mine even think I should try to get it published, but with some of these truley vast and imaginative places I've seen others make how are there not a great many more worlds already out there?
Morbid 12-14-05, 11:02 PM	If I were you, I would wait maybe 4 months (make your working of it be a year) and then try it. But make sure your players know it's just a playtest and some things may be changed. If your players are good sports they'll agree and help you with testing to see if all is well. And if you decide to change something, they should accept it, for it's only a test.
Matafleous 12-14-05, 11:37 PM	I have eight pages of history written for a made up campaign setting that none of my players will ever see... why? Because its fun. As a DM you get to have all kinds of fun doing just that kind of thing. You can start the campaign before you are done creating the entire world though. Also a lot of the time if I have not finished creating a complicated new world I will simply start a campaign that takes place in the standard D&D world while I work on my own homemade world. All Im saying is dont let anything stop you from creating a homebrewed campaign. They are always the best ones.
Arak the mighty 12-14-05, 11:47 PM	My group's been playing in my homebrew world for 5 years, and it's nowhere near "complete". As I think of stuff, I jot it down. As I think of NPC's, I make a card for them. As I think of a cool idea for a city or region, I map it out and inhabit it. There's a good chance a lot of the stuff I've come up with, my players will never encounter. But that's part of what makes a world feel "alive".
Treetrip Danglefoot 12-15-05, 12:30 AM	The CEO of an IT company had something very interesting to say about a problem very similar to the one you're having. "Better is the enemy of Good." For the IT company, they were designing those mice (for your computer) that look like mice (for your cat and or young children). They kept updating it with new ergonomic design, traded the trackball for IR, added a scrollwheel, added a third button in the scroll wheel, changed the design a little more to fit the hand, designed different sizes for different age people, etc, etc, etc. It had been 3 years since the original concept and they still didn't have a market product. So eventually the CEO said "Start production." One of his managers told him, "but we'd miss out on this new technology that our supplier is about to get his hands on, if we wait it'll be alot better." and the CEO said to him "Better is the enemy of Good." That pretty much means "At some point, you've got to make the thing. If you don't you'll never actually make it." You know, every time you make it better it was already good. If you wait too long someone else will make it. For campaigns, that could just mean you keep using different campaigns until you think yours is "really really ready." Nothings ever going to be the best (save cheese raviola from a bag boiled in water with a moderate serving of butter and two metric tons of hard romano cheese. THAT is perfect.) so you may never get around to it. If you've got enough history, geography, and plot idea to make it function, use it. Anything you add afterwards can either be chalked up as "something the PCs never knew about" or "something that the group talks about how to deal with and takes in stride." :D
Morbid 12-15-05, 12:54 AM	*Cheers*
Caemin Pah 12-15-05, 08:20 AM	[QUOTE=The Vorpal Tribble]A'ight, I've been working on a campaign idea now for some 8 months, at least. I decided to work out the world. Most of my campaigns I have a very decent ammount of background, but I wanted a full world this time. Its a wet, mountainous artic world and I've just been going rampant on the theme, history, geography... then I started in on the stories and stats of famous people and the more I think, I more ideas I get. The players are extremely unlikely to meet any of these famous folk, and some of them DIED maybe hundreds of years ago. But I'm wanting it complete. And the more I write the more ideas I get for adventures in the place and the more things I think of to help the players become immersed in the world. The only thing is though... I can't figure out when to actually start the bloody thing. I keep thinking, 'Ok, I got enough now, lets actually try to get this started...' but then another idea comes and I keep thinking, 'If I started now then they'd miss out on all this other stuff I'll be thinking of to make it even better.' and no matter how much I add, it just never seems complete. Anyone else have this problem?[QUOTE] oh, you have no idea..... I am currently on my 4th 5 subject notebook with notes, and still havent begun to work out where the adventures begin to start introducing the players to the world. Heck, they still dont even know I have one yet.... Though, by the time I am done, I should be comperable to the realms for background and histories..... BTW. My world is a basic world, with temperate and artic regions (no deserts this time) however, due to at least 4 mage wars, magic has gone totally screwy. Its not a wild magic area, it is a magic LOST world. NO wizard, sorcerer or any caster of any kind can cast spells above 3rd level unless they find and somehow inplant a newly found Mage Stone. These mage stones are of varying degrees, one degree for each level (cumulative) of spells over 3rd....I.E. a Mage Stone 4th degree would allow a caster to cast spells from 4th to 7th, but 8th and 9th are still lost to him. Now for the coup de grace, There is a HUGE monolith of black basalt crystal in the wild lands...it is this monolith that has caused magic to be drained into it, essentially making it a giant magic battery, with no way to extract power.... So eventually, the battery will fill up, get over-charged and *BOOM* magic goes completely gone... hence the overall campaign hook for about the next 50 years of game play... Sorry, got carried away, but you see how easy it is for me to come up with ideas, and keep taking notes without allowing the players to taste the world yet...... my 2cp
spoogemonkey 12-16-05, 05:00 PM	uh... how can a world be both "wet" and "artic"??? If it is artic it is FROZEN.... and, therefore, NOT wet. Why, oh WHY, does every DM think they need to make up their own world? There are PLENTY of good worlds out there - just PICK one! It is the STORY LINE and the realistic NPCs and Villains that make an adventure special - the setting is very nearly immaterial.... and a WHOLE LOT of work... and HARD to get right... and dubious to your prospective players.
Druidsrule 12-16-05, 05:06 PM	uh... how can a world be both "wet" and "artic"??? If it is artic it is FROZEN.... and, therefore, NOT wet. Why, oh WHY, does every DM think they need to make up their own world? There are PLENTY of good worlds out there - just PICK one! It is the STORY LINE and the realistic NPCs and Villains that make an adventure special - the setting is very nearly immaterial.... and a WHOLE LOT of work... and HARD to get right... and dubious to your prospective players. If it's arctic, there's snow. Snow=wet. Making your own world is a good thing, it lets you grow more sincere and personal with your players. Besides, it's an extreme show of creativity; something you apparently lack if you need your worlds to be created before you use them. And numbers, and dice rolls. :rolleyes:
Pellanor 12-16-05, 05:30 PM	Why, oh WHY, does every DM think they need to make up their own world? There are PLENTY of good worlds out there - just PICK one! Because it's fun. I like having my own world. I like being able say that the king is bald, and not have some player say "But in this or that book it clearly states that the king has purple hair and a pink mustache". I don't like having to do reseach on who or what the players might encounter in a certain are. I like having the freedom to descided that after traveling three days to the east, the players will reach the Ocean, since I just bought Stormwrack and want to use something from there on them. I like the freedom of it being MY world. I like the fact that it's MY world. I have fun making it MY world. That's why I use MY world. --- On the topic of the OP. I have nothing constructive to add, as I've never been in that situation. Best of luck though.
Thessik 12-16-05, 05:40 PM	I say run the game! As long as you have the general flavor of the world, you are free to add to it as you play. You obviously are in detail mode now and that, my friend, never ends. Ever. As for getting it published, don't hold your breath. Every third gamer has his own gameworld that he wants published. Even if yours is awesome, unless you have several thousand dollars to blow, it won't get published. I own part of a d20 module and sourcebook publishing company for just that reason. ;)
benmoule101 12-16-05, 05:48 PM	uh... how can a world be both "wet" and "artic"??? If it is artic it is FROZEN.... and, therefore, NOT wet.. There are several regions which might be considered 'artic' but are also quite wet. An obvious example would be the Taiga, which is a common feature of northern europe and northern american continent. Freezing cold in winter, wet and marshy in summer. Why, oh WHY, does every DM think they need to make up their own world? There are PLENTY of good worlds out there - just PICK one!. We like it, we like the challenge, we enjoy the fun and the nit-pick details. It is the STORY LINE and the realistic NPCs and Villains that make an adventure special - the setting is very nearly immaterial.... and a WHOLE LOT of work... and HARD to get right... and dubious to your prospective players. I completely agree, without these elements, no game world is worth playing... Ben
Ogmug 12-16-05, 05:49 PM	uh... how can a world be both "wet" and "artic"??? If it is artic it is FROZEN.... and, therefore, NOT wet. Why, oh WHY, does every DM think they need to make up their own world? There are PLENTY of good worlds out there - just PICK one! It is the STORY LINE and the realistic NPCs and Villains that make an adventure special - the setting is very nearly immaterial.... and a WHOLE LOT of work... and HARD to get right... and dubious to your prospective players. You have obviously never been to alaska. As to why make your own world? Tell me what campaign setting has everything a person wants in it? Maybe the DM wants a world with high magic, a mystical elven city that has been destroyed, a kingdom that is mostly fuedal in nature, with another nation that has developed a technology for space travel, while on the other side of the world strife and isolation has caused the remnants of a great war to come to life as sentient constructs, while nearby a long lost continent toils under the rule of a vampire and eternal night, and towards the south an ancient civilization still worships the Quoatl, and still beneath all of this are the evil workings of a great underground empire?
Malruhn 12-16-05, 08:06 PM	Why do it? Because there are things that I don't like in published campaign worlds, and once I start to nitpick, I go overboard and start rewriting... So I came up with my own. I started with a world map (I drew it) and made about 15 copies. I wrote up one page of world history with major civilizations and used colored pencils to show where they were. I created some huge heroes and lots of names of geographic features (Kalevelak Mountains, Soris Majeural Desert) THEN I moved forward several hundred years in my timeline and wrote a ONE page story of the world. I destroyed a couple civilizations and made some others bigger and changed the outlines on the maps. I made some heroes and a bit of backstory and magical weapons. Then I went and twisted some of the names of the geography (Kalevak Mountains, Soris Majors Desert). THEN I moved forward several hundred MORE years and wrote a TWO page story of my world. I made some big civilizations fall and had others rise. A couple others just faded from the world. I created some heroes and villians and gave them character sheets and magical items. I then twisted the geography some more (Kaleva Range, Sors Major Desert). One last time, I wrote a FIVE page history of my world. I created some lands and made some civilizations fall, with a new map full of bright colors. I created a mess of heroes and villians with detailed histories and possessions. Then, I twisted the names one last time... (Kael's Mountains, Soramajor Desert). Enter the PCs. Now, if I get all epic, they might need a prophecy... "Seek the Blade of Sunder from beneath the blasted Soris Majeural," becomes quite the puzzle to figure out, especially if the gal that owned the spear (!) was named "Sunder" and they have never heard of anything but "Soramajor" desert!! If I think of anything new, I can add it. I have twisted stuff to keep it "new" and "improved" over what used to be... just like what happened in our own history. Imagine what could happen to the city of Indianapolis! Indianapols, Indianapol, Indinapol, Indinapo, Indinpoo, Ininpoo, Innpoo. Can you imagine the confusion if you walked down the streets of NY looking for Innpoo?! Just like a screw-up in spelling. The Horseclans books are GREAT for this! The heroes in the future (after the next holocost), looking for the mystical city of Elai, a shining city by the western sea of Merika. (L.A. anyone?) Just by spelling it differently, the author made it special. That is what I tried to do. All in all, it took me about eight hours to do all this that I described above... and most of it was for the last incarnation and the character generation. It was a BLAST to see how the world evolved... and I was doing it myself. This is why we do these things... I felt like GOD!! Well, at least like GOSH!! :D
The Vorpal Tribble 12-16-05, 08:30 PM	Why, oh WHY, does every DM think they need to make up their own world? There are PLENTY of good worlds out there - just PICK one! Ah, you got a link to point me to a good 3.5 artic world? This world is also far different than most. #1. No elves #2. No dragons That right there is enough to make some folks cry. As for wet and cold, yeah, North America. For example, I live in the mountains of north georgia. Its been below freezing for days. Has it snowed? Nope, not one bit, but absolutely everything is covered in ice and several new rivers have appeared from the abundant sleet. This world is based a good deal off Alaska and Iceland with a bit of the himalayas thrown in.