Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Betzlalel Jun 26, 2014 21:00:16	Hello friends. I got bored one night so I decided I would go ahead and share with the world the homebrew world I created. Please note that I have only been a DM for a few months. Making this world was the first thing I did as DM.   Yes, I know this was probably a terrible idea, but I didn't know any better.   Anyways, the basics behind my world are as follows: As far as anybody, including me as DM, knows, there is only one organized country in the world. The only non-geographical information about the world outside this country is that on the other side of the mountains is the tribal minotaur lands. This country is bordered by a sea to the east, mountains to the west, massive forests tapering into tundra to the north, and a desert to the south. There is also a river separating the arable land of the southern parts of the country from the desert. The country consists of, for the most part, one massive fertile plain. The government of this country is an oligarchy - each major race elects a representative, and the representatives rule the country. There are 11 cities (and one caravan large enough to be a city). The capitol city sits in the center of the country and is partial to no races or classes. Outside of the government, however, each of the classes has a guild. Each guild has a guild hall in the capitol city. In addition, each class guild has a city, except for the bards, who have a caravan. The "class cities" are mostly open to everybody: ie, one does not need to be a rogue to live in the rogue's city. Nor do adventurers of every class have to be in their "class guild" or live in their "class city." The class cities are more of a common gathering of similar minded adventurers and commoners. Lastly, the "class cities" all reflect the class that calls them home. Most notably are the fighter, wizard, rogue, bard, and barbarian class cities (and caravan), which are the closest thing to the racial homes of the dwarves, elves, halflings, gnomes, and half-orcs, respectively. My personal favorite example is the sorcerer's city, which is more a collection of research facilities than an actual city. They have a top notch fire prevention system thanks to the many explosions caused by the local sorcerers.
#2 Dreamstryder Jun 26, 2014 22:30:42	That sounds fun! The class-themed settlements give players a way to immediately recognize the places' distinct flavor (also offering a clear jumping-off point for the DM to develop NPCs and adventure ideas in such locations), and the unexplored nature of the world is perfect for exploration and adventure.   You may want to avoid making the settled area in the center too long to cross, so that the party can easily pass from one adventure site to another. Keep in mind points of interest don't need to be far apart in the realms beyond, either; when there's something interesting and strange behind every hill and in every valley, it keeps the game captivating! Just be sure to keep some broad ideas of things in a radius of the party's base of operations (like you have) and a more specific idea of things within close traveling reach of the party. You'll probably get ideas organically as the campaign goes on; don't try to fill it all in at once.   The way I'd populate the place is to put a location of note every day’s worth of travel (this leaves room to insert other locations between them, like every hour of travel, etc, later). While traveling, you might see signs (a path, outlying ruins, smoke rising from a chimney, cave mouth, flocks of seagulls or pterosaurs, a hole in the ground), and only by following them can you find the place of note (tho' take a warning; it may be someplace you’d like to avoid: I wouldn't press past a row of heads on spikes or into hills carpeted in ogre skeletons). Places of note could be a monster lair, a mini-dungeon of 9 or less rooms, a cryptic statue or adventurer’s grave that has a puzzle to it or is just good for navigation or displaying a setting's culture, a smoking crater (where there’s no foraging to be done), a ghost-town, or airship wreckage.   As I said, journeying thru a region once needn't uncover everything to be seen there, either. The DM could later slip in new signs to new places when the party is venturing thru again, or monsters cleared out by the party in one location have moved into this one, changing encounters. This keeps even "old" regions mysterious and worth re-visiting or going thru to reach farther regions.
#3 Betzlalel Jul 01, 2014 17:00:17	Dreamstryder wrote: