Post/Author/DateTime	Post
weaverchilde 01-11-04, 10:59 AM	Wondering if there was a good set of points that need to be covered in a world book. To clarify I'm not talking about the style of how it is written, but what actually needs to be covered in the book to be useable. This is what I have so far: Region Geography - Cold / Temperate / Warm - Aquatic / Deser / Forest / Hill / Marsh / Mountains / Plains / etc. People - Common Races - Common Languages - General Attitudes Cities - Guilds - Temples - Trade / Coinage - Laws - Military - Notable NPCs Politics - Religious Orders - Guilds / Merchants - Nobility
Brknlf 01-20-04, 01:55 PM	Actually, most Worldbooks actually only tend to cover a portion of the world. Even the big ones, like Dragonlance and Forgetten Realms Campaign settings only cover a small portion of their respective worlds. This said, I do think you have most everything covered for making your own worldbook. It depends on what you intend to do with that worldbook. If it is merely something to get started on your own campaign, not every detail needs to be filled out. While some people claim big to little development is good, more people will probably find it advantageous to start small and then develop big. As you have it, Region is big and should be at the top, then the details therein actually depend on the region itself. While geography is rightfully separate; people, cities and politics can be blended together depending on the interaction these things share. I'll give an example. I currently have a running campaign that I am developing small to big. I have the area the players will adventure first is heavily detailed (hometown, wilds around it, some adventures to being), enough so that they have plenty of options and I don’t railroad them to follow a story arc. The areas beyond the starting point included minor details (including politics here for the overall region they start in and such and some overall geographical features, but there are more of these in the area they start with). Beyond this, I have the beginning of other regions. In my worldbook, I have two big Regions, the area where the players start and a one of the neighboring regions started. They come from a mostly human feudalistic society, and this is the more developed Region. I have details on the political structure of the Kingdom itself and some overview of other groups like major bandit groups and orc nomads that operate in the entire region. Then I have the Region divided up by major political type boundaries. In the starting region, this is by duchies and baronies as appropriate for the entire kingdom. The neighboring area is strongly clan based, and is thusly divided by clan territories. Within the subdivisions I include Civilized Lands and Wild Areas sections. The former containing information on the breakdown of the dominant political organization. In the feudal society, this includes cities and towns and the like – the clans detail various tribes and such. The Wild Areas includes more detailed geography notes for the specific locations and things like evil civilized beings or monsters and such (basically things that will serve as potential adventure hooks). If you’re tying to look for something you’re going to possibly publish, I would imagine the big to little idea might be more considerable. That is the big stuff should be better covered but the minor details should be left open for other people wanting to use the world.
weaverchilde 01-20-04, 02:38 PM	Thank you very much.