Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 grapplethetroll Aug 25, 2008 20:24:44	It's been far too long since I've played a game of D&D, and with the 4th edition books out, and read, I'm starting to gear up for running a game. Before I do that, I need to have a world. Every incarnation of the D&D game that I've run has seen a campaign world built specifically for that edition. I run into a problem or two every single time, and that's that I typically make my world too big. I always tell myself I need the ENTIRE world, and that it needs to be EARTH sized. This is WAAAAAY to large in practice, and I end up wanting to send the players all over the world so they can experience all the neat geography I'd come up with. This time around I'm thinking smaller, but how small? If I just make an area to start and expand on that later, roughly how much of the map should I worry about? Should I even bother with the map and simply have the geography and history come through via storytelling? I'm wanting to experiment a bit, but I'm likely going to have half to most of my players be new to D&D, and roleplaying games in general. In your experience, how big is too big, and how small is too small?
#2 doomsought Aug 25, 2008 20:31:48	Start with one city, which is the center of the PCs attention, then build up, making sure that a square of graph paper on a bigger scale is never bigger than the entirety of the next step down, thats how I've done Aurix foramen. You go up to the regional, subcontinental and continental scales before reaching the world.
#3 grapplethetroll Aug 26, 2008 6:30:47	See, this is almost exactly opposite what I'd been doing. I'd make the entire world, spending likely too much time on naming geographical anomalies and coming up with reasons 'why,' and then pick my favorite and make a smaller map of that area. From that area I'd further detal the environment and just do the same until I got a starting point. That said, I am Polish. I am sort of used to doing things backwards.
#4 indyjoe Aug 26, 2008 8:57:13	I'd consider what do you have a good idea for? What will be the core of the campaign? Along with: what do your players want to do? (Pitch them a few concepts, then flesh out whichever one they seem most interested in.) This is critical as they are essential to the story you're cooperatively going to tell. Once you know what the core of the campaign will be about (maybe it is a war between gods then the pantheon(s)/religion(s) will be important or if it is a battle for a kingdom then the nobles and neighboring kingdoms will be important), develop that, then develop what else you need for the initial adventures (the town/fort/whatever where they start, the first adventure or two, etc.) and throwing in hooks for future adventures as you're able to do that. As the adventures progress you can probe your players for what directions they plan to go and develop them as needed between adventures.
#5 Andron Aug 26, 2008 11:08:05	In the past I have always started big and worked to the small. Starting out with the cosmos and then slowly working in until I have each kingdom made up with every town/hamlet/ and lone farmer all planned out. most of the time the players never see most of what was created. This time around, I am actually starting in reverse order since the players will be starting out in a vale and I'll work out as need be. I do have the surrounding area mapped out, but no details as of yet other than the closest city to the vale they will begin adventuring in. It starts out as less work and I do not waste time creating something that the players will never see. of course, the easiest parts were already done for me since I am using the generic pantheon from the books and using Fallcrest and the surrounding area as my start point. I'm using the Barony of Darkwold as the starting point for my players and creating that whole area on my own. I think strting small and going to the big as the players advance and stretch out their influence will be the easiest approach, at least for me.
#6 gregwr Aug 26, 2008 11:27:57	I'll second what Andron said. The area your players see is all you really need to detail past the basics. So if you Make a world map make it simple then when you zoom in to continent level add just a few more details. Then when you go to kingdom level add even more, and finally save your biggest effort for the local area. Consider this too; the max overland speed according to the PHB is 35 mi per day. So if you don't think your characters will go beyond say 10 days from the center of your map in any one direction don't make too many details beyond that range. I believe strongly in good detailed backgrounds for the world, but don't get tied up in the minutiae or you will never get the basics finished. I like to knock out a rough world map and kingdoms then decide on specific gods and politics for the kingdoms and racial dynamics of the major races. That gives you the cohesive skeleton that lets you add new areas quickly and consistently without having to do everything up front. I'm also big on scrapping ideas that don't work cause when we get married to ideas it can blind us to better ones. So less major detailing makes that easier when something doesn't work.
#7 fodigg Aug 26, 2008 14:13:44	Start with a prison. A crystal prison manned by aberrant horrors that have kidnapped and mind-wiped the PCs for reasons unknown. When they break out, they emerge from the prison-dungeon into a vast wilderness with strange features and inhabitants. They see a city on the horizon and make their way towards it. With this intro, there is absolutely no pressure to know anything about your world other than the theme: Weird alien land. From there you can figure out the city and the surrounding wilderness and then slowly expand. It's the "points of light" concept to the extreme. Nobody knows what else is out there and the PCs are going to have to figure it out on their own.
#8 ramses_iii Aug 27, 2008 3:58:39	Here's how I handled my first 4E campaign, titled Legacy of the Ur-Kings. I first came up with the story (which I can't really divulge because some of my players frequent these forums, but the campaign log so far is linked in my sig). Then I thought about a setting. I ended up going with a smaller setting than what I usually create, using the British Isles as a model and moving from there to a small archipelago with a handful of large islands and several smaller ones around them. Considering the "points of light" conceit, I decided that the isles were fairly isolated since the fall of the empire that once encompassed them, which allowed me to focus on a smaller area for my campaign setting.
#9 strand0 Aug 27, 2008 20:18:37	Grapplethetroll! Question: How much of the world do you build before you start to play in it? A few months ago Some hints? (Newbie) which I find is a wonderful starting point for a campaign. Partly because it takes them to the edge of the world, and could be aimed at the rest of the world. (sort of... :D )
#10 strand0 Aug 27, 2008 21:14:05	A dragon city http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1066708 Probably already seen this.
#11 pschirf Aug 27, 2008 21:36:51	The island theme is a good one for starting small. Tell the players of "mysterious" lands that exist beyond the islands... maybe a few names of countries that have been known to sail ships to the islands they live on... but then include islands for each race, and trade routes, etc. If you throw in enough to do on the islands, they may never leave. My world isn't a planet at all, it's a flat rock held up by three "Titans", who made the gods. It's possible to sail off the edge, and the last player group to do so ended up being deposited on a mountainside, their ship used as wood for the next "ship of the sun"... but really, it's as normal a D&D world as most. "Faerie Lands" is another motif that allows you to start small. Start them in a country that has neighbors, politics, etc... but then pull them into some "other world" inhabited by fey and their adversaries. Moving the party between the two worlds to do quests at the behest of a fairy queen may make then less interested in travel, and more interested in finding ways to return their rewards to "their world".
#12 atanakar Aug 29, 2008 17:19:58	I work like a painter. Large strong strokes to begin with to set the scene. Than I detail everything slowly as the storyline evolves around the characters. You want to keep all the avenues opened. Campaign building is not novel writing. The actions/reactions of the players must be woven into the campaign world constantly as the storyline unfolds. All you really need to start a campaign is a good overall concept, a way to explain how the characters ended up together, the immediate surroundings and memorable NPCs (good & evil). Read my wiki. Everything is sketchy for now but it's the way I like to build my campaigns. As time passes I add details and complexity.
#13 Tovec Aug 30, 2008 14:20:52	Too big? Anything larger than the immediate area the PCs will be ever traveling, so basically what borders the kingdom(s) in question? Too small? A village. Hell even one city can be too small in my opinion. My best suggestion, especially when getting a feel for a new world or setting, is to start with one, especially, large city. Then put your PCs somewhere small and secluded. This might be a dungeon, prison, town, outpost, random field, tavern, whatever. Have them explore the city, have the city be safe but too safe, boring, so that all the adventure is in the surrounding areas. Basically you can make the city a resting grounds and a place to refuel but have them go out of town to find the raiders, slavers, dungeons, excitement at large. If you are like me, however, start working on larger world spanning things. Be these organizations or kingdoms, basically to add more flavour to the setting. Also remember that these places are never set in stone and can get closer, amalgamated and altered just by the PCs exploring the world. Hope this helps, it probably doesn't :P