However, I look at how awesome the FRCG is and I realize that the task is quite daunting. I'm unsure of how to start.
Any, and all, advice would be appreciated.
I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky.
In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics:
Plagiarize!
Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize -
Only be sure always to call it please 'research'.
So too in setting creation. If you like part of the FRCS, feel free to include that part in your setting. If you like a part of the Dark Sun setting, likewise. I can't wait to read your mash-up - it's sure to be neat!
When I first sat down to write the history of the plane the players will start in and spend most of their time in I tried to start at the beginning and write out everything for every part of the world, city, race, deity all in one go. The only thing I manage was to give myself a huge headache and make a bottle of vodka sound really good.
So what I did was pick one part of the world in my case a single island, albeit a large island, and started to write out stuff about it. Just what ever a think of. I kept it in a text document at first. Then once I got enough information I divided that one text document into several.
Around 6 months later I have around 2 dozen text documents each with information such as cities, the history of the island, note worthy people. Deities worshiped in the area ect.
So I guess my advice is to take on small portions on it at a time. Start with one thing preferably a part you find very interesting or a part that you have the most ideas for.
I'm interesting in beginning to build my own campaign world. Any advice from those who have done it before? I want to create a mash-up world that takes my favorite things from different settings and/or games and combine them in my own unique way.
However, I look at how awesome the FRCG is and I realize that the task is quite daunting. I'm unsure of how to start.
Any, and all, advice would be appreciated.
1. Always do the World Map. It is going to be for the DM anyhow. I like Mapping on a d20 Surface so do the 20 triangles on a Piece of Paper and break out the Pen and colour Pencils. Each of the big Triangles is 4000 miles to a side. Do a Chart on the odds of any terrain type dominating the Surface:
1d20..................Type
1-10..................Water
11-14................Badlands/Magma Fields
15-16...............Mountains/Hills
17......................Desert
18.....................Forest/Wood/Jungle
19.....................Plain/Savanna/Grassland
20......................Swamp/Bog/Marsh
Draw where the Oceans are likely to be and whether Land is an Isolated Island/Continent, or a Peninsula connected to a Larger landmass. YOu can do several copies of this map and plot movement of races, Tribes, and Monsters.
Then I divide my Regional Triangle up into Smaller Triangles:
4000->2000->1000->500->250->125
Scaling down to 125 Miles per side of triangle, we find we have a descent Area within which to focus a campaign. So we draw a New Map in this smaller triangle. THis is probably the Kingdom the PCs are at large in. So we then go Local. Somewhere on our Map the PCs are About to Begin their rise to power.
2. The Local Area Map. 4E is a lot more focused on the whole "kill them if they wander beyond the limits of the village" gaming. That means you will want to start off at the Local Level - Maybe an Island, an Estate, or a Valley. These are small isolated startups with little in the way of weapons beyond a Club, A spear or a Bow and Arrow set, Maybe some Leather Armor if you are lucky. Worse case a City or Town where the adventures happen within the walls.
Most Likely in Pencil. You might Draw the Valley or Island or Town on a single A4. Scale is likely to be around 10cm/Mile. It might take the PCs an hour to walk to the Ruined Castle overlooking the Valley (and their little village). There might be Bogs where Goblins have been seen, there might be a Cave where Wolves lair, or a Bandit/Elf Camp in the Forested Part, Outlying Farms, Roads, or a Bridge where a Gnome charges a toll for maintenance purposes.
3. Adventure Build. So once you have your local area, you start on your adventures.
A. Fringe Events. Not always isolated one offs - some times they can be cause and effect events tied to something larger.
WOLF MIGRATION: Bandits have pushed the wolves out of their caves so the Wolves are now moving to a new area on the otherside of the valley - straight through a bunch of Farms. Bandits are Scouts for a larger band of Slavers about to raid the region.
GREEN SMOKE: A Gnome is brewing Green Ale (primary ingredient is green slime) in the Ruined Keep. Maybe the Green smoke is a signal or maybe it isnt.
B. Big Picture Arc. The Story that happens whether you are there or not. Only the outcome is determined by whether the PCs made a difference.
SLAVERS: This one has no warning. While the PCs are off investigation one of the other Adventures, Slavers raid the Village. Within an Hour of that event, a Small band of Raiders attack the PCs at the Ruins or Caves.
1. It is kind-of random chart based. I personally just use the random charts as ways to remind me of what the options are. For example, the list of terrain for an area is useful to remind me of what the options are, but I'm not going to roll on a chart to tell me what should be the predominant terrain of a particular area. I'm going to choose what's appropriate based on the stories I want to tell or based on adjacent terrain, climate, etc.
2. In addition to starting top down or bottom up (as another poster mentioned) I think you could start with any of the books chapters (a local area, the world's overall map, the religion(s), the world's timeline, etc.) based on what you have a good idea for or what stories you want to tell. If the campaign is going to lead into a god-war, then you should have a good idea for the gods and you should start there because your choices for that may affect how you build the world's timeline, geography, etc. On the other hand, if you have a good idea for a campaign about the politics of a king's court, then maybe you should start with that kingdom.
You may also look for the Dungeoncraft articles by Ray Winninger that were in Dragon magazine. They've been posted online. And a general google search on Worldbuilding (or similar search terms) and refine the search for what aspects of the world you're working on will probably bring you some good hits. Some may even be by published fantasy authors, professional game designers, and amateurs with good ideas.
All of those were just examples of course, but my basic point is let the hard work be done for you. Mix and match all the things you think are coolest from D&D settings, fiction, your own imagination, history, whatever! Spend a little time smoothing over the edges and then let your PCs loose, and the rest will come to you.
A final note: don't put too much effort into aspects of your setting the PCs will never interact with, and especially don't force your PCs into certain parts of your setting (be they regions, factions, or even storylines) if it becomes clear that they are not interested.
A final, final note: keep a notebook with all of your random ideas in it, even the ones you don't immediately use or are saving up for the future, and read over it every once in a while. Keep it handy during sessions. Plagiarizing yourself is a great resource as well!
A final note: don't put too much effort into aspects of your setting the PCs will never interact with, and especially don't force your PCs into certain parts of your setting (be they regions, factions, or even storylines) if it becomes clear that they are not interested.
-I disagree with that first part, but agree with that second part. Definitely don't force PCs to do things they don't want to do. Now, about that first part: If players don't seem to want to go in a particular direction, why should you skimp out on that area, be it a place, person, group, whatever? It's not as if creativity is a finite thing that you have only a limited amount of. So your players don't want to interact with something...So what? Your players aren't the only people in your setting. Areas that are likely never to be used in a game still exist (and can be used in future games). If you have interesting ideas for any of those people, places and/or things, use them, don't ignore them.
Well, not so! Building a new world requires you to be imaginative and creative. Obviously you must have the required components to create a world-
- Graphing Paper
- Notebook, or 3- ring Binder (w/ paper)
- Pencils or Pens
- Dungeon Tiles
- Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual
You can build a variety of worlds with a pencil, a piece of paper, graphing paper, and your mind. The world doesn't have to be based on franchise- it can be on anything you want! You could have a team of explorers on the shorelines of Al- Kadhur; or defending the city of Arstenvul from an army of Goblins; or you could even sail the seas of the Drailith Ocean in search of treasure or a mysterious sea monster. You can call your world virtually anything you want! One thing you need to know about naming key sites: don't make it too general, like America (WAY too general), or anything else that is used on Earth. The fact is- every D&D campaign is based on a similar or different time period and on a different 'Planet,' since all of the D&D campaigns resides next to the Planes.
One thing to keep in mind- be consistent. You don't want your adventure to trail off in a different direction after a while, or else the adventure will come to a screeching halt and it won't be fun anymore. Make a storyboard and modify it to how you see fit.
The graphing paper is a helpful guide to helping you plot out your world's map of a specific area in your world. You always want to refer to your Dungeon tiles, because the things that you WANT to draw might not be on a dungeon tile. That's why there is drawing paper. 1"x1" grids is the required size of the dungeon squares. You can draw a unique feature on the tile that you are custom- making. Make it so that everyone can travel on some part of it at a regular pace. Don't fill up the whole thing with Difficult Terrain (Poor tile...), or else there will be some complications to your encounter(s)!
Designing unique NPC's and Monsters- There is no limit to what you can do for you NPC's and Monsters that you create, or use from the Monster Manual. NPC's are generally the advisors for the Players and offer expert tips and hints as well as awarding your players accordingly for their heroic efforts. Make them memorable; make them fun or funny; make them menacing; make them however you want them to be!
Seems like I wrote too much, huh? Well, this is useful information for you to use whenever you need some guidance on how to create your own worlds.
Alos, when in doubt, consult to your Dungeons and Dragons books- Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual- if ever you get stuck on a specific element of your world.
- Zack
-I disagree with that first part, but agree with that second part. Definitely don't force PCs to do things they don't want to do. Now, about that first part: If players don't seem to want to go in a particular direction, why should you skimp out on that area, be it a place, person, group, whatever? It's not as if creativity is a finite thing that you have only a limited amount of. So your players don't want to interact with something...So what? Your players aren't the only people in your setting. Areas that are likely never to be used in a game still exist (and can be used in future games). If you have interesting ideas for any of those people, places and/or things, use them, don't ignore them.
I suppose I should rephrase my statement to be something like, "If you have a finite amount of time available for prep, spend as little as possible on areas the PCs are unlikely to interact with".
I also give the advice generally because I think it is easy for novice DMs to make a really cool campaign setting based on what they prefer in a setting, then shoehorn their players into it. I admit that the more time I spend on something, the more likely I am to include it in the game somehow, even if I'm the one who will really enjoy it there and not my players. So I guess my advice is not strictly necessary for all games, but I don't think that following will be harmful either. Better safe than sorry, eh?
I suppose I should rephrase my statement to be something like, "If you have a finite amount of time available for prep, spend as little as possible on areas the PCs are unlikely to interact with".
-Well, prep time =/= world building time. It takes me, whatever, a half-hour or hour or whatever to plan out, more or less, two or three game sessions, which includes rough NPCs, the rough story, rough NPC/monster stats, items, and those kinds of things. It takes...forever to build a world. It's a process that is constantly going on, that I've been chugging along with for (in my case) maybe four years or so. Whenever I have a little bit of free time, I'll add little details here or there. In this city, X, Y and Z are local foods. Blah, blah, blah, and so on. Very rarely do these kinds of little details come up while playing (things like sports, or local games, or whatever else), so I have all the time in the world to design stuff like that, and then, of course, bigger things, depending on the location and where the players are/might be in the future.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=967256
Having the population numbers down REALLY helped me get a sense of things. This site is awesome!
http://www.rpglibrary.org/utils/meddemog/
I hope that helps.
"If I were creating a world, I wouldn't mess about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers, eight o'clock, Day one!"
Ahhh... Time Bandits.
"Mom, Dad! Don't touch it! It's EVIL!" TOUCH - Blam!
Starting to build a world/campaign... I've been reading through the entrys here and in What does a DM do? and make note about interesting ideas. THen I blend a bunch of these to create an environment and the campaign's general story arc.
At this point the campaign is about a huge area that had been USA-like fantasy nation, Karn. The nation, and it's allies, fell to a huge army of invading Goblinoids (not true). It is recovering from a century long dark age and most towns and villages claim to have been the capital of old Karn, therefore one sees much friction between these population centers.
PCs will begin in one Karn which has become a Magiocracy. They will be a contact and exploration team in old Karn. After a few levels they will be sent on missions to the old ally nations to see how they are doing.
The long range goal is to resetablish the old Karn government in time for the return of the -things- which had sundered it.
There's more but it is the adventure ideas kind of stuff. ;)
For instance, I truly love the Arthurian Legends, I also love the movie Willow (the one with Doc "I'll be your huckleberry" Holiday), and I love the idea of a smarter, meaner Orc...
There are two key elements I've used to build a world:
1. The first is the use of Maps:
This last world I made I started with small a town on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of lined paper (using the space between lines as my scale = 25 yards. Then using a smaller scale, drew the surrounding terrain.
My method is about building slowly. Once you've done a couple of very low level adventures, you can expand and begin adding the elements you like in neighbouring towns, cities or countries.
My macro maps are 1" = 50 miles, also on 8.5 x 11 paper. Some day I'll scan them in and run them through XARAhttp://xara.com.
For cities, I use a half the size of the scale for towns (space between lines = 50 yards) which gives me a walled city about 1 mile across.
Maps help me visualize the places the NPCs I'm creating live in.
2. The second is a villain. And I mean VILLAIN, with a CAPITOL V that is very very very annoyed with these pipsqueek upstarts intruding on his (or her) privacy...
Currently, I have three villains, one of which is a Beholder... the other two I won't list since my players will likely read this thing :P...
But the player characters keep mucking things up for my villains, and they have yet to meet them formally... (although they know about the Beholder).
My villains are always high level, and always have big ambitions with extensive, and complex plans to achieve those ambitions... such as... on, the Bastard Son of a king by way of an incestuous relationship with the king's sister wanting the throne... ala Mordred... :D
Playing a villain is fun, you get to torture players, and that's always a blast!
Villains are essential to world building. They add that certain flavour that makes a world believable. Without them the world is boring, and filled with shiney happy pod people that sing Kumbayah all day long...
My villains are always high level, and always have big ambitions with extensive, and complex plans to achieve those ambitions... such as... on, the Bastard Son of a king by way of an incestuous relationship with the king's sister wanting the throne... ala Mordred... :D
QUOTE]
Ah darktower, excellent
i love that series and i am currently re-reading part of it (the marvel comic version, i've already read the books)
i'm attempting to make a world of my own, but this is an interplanar world
a weird idea i know but basically in my world the planes have gotten seriously screwed up and are know in a sort of blended up state where parts of planes intrude onto others in very chaotic ways
i'm also using way more planes than are presented in 4.0, most of which are varying versions of the mortal realm
eventually my players will even get to visit mid-world and meet roland deschain himself
I was never a fan of Stephen King, but I've never tried his fantasy stuff, maybe I should...
Is there a Mordred in those?
I was referring to King Arthur's son by Morganna
Here is the best worldbuilding advice that I have learned:
1) Whenever you fill in a major piece of the campaign world, always devise at least one secret related to that peice. Some of the best background stories come from explaining something that isn't obvious in your campaign world.
2) When designing your world, if you're looking for a unique aspect, you need to think what this does for your players - in what way does it make them want to experience that part of the world, rather than just reading about it?
So far, there's been some great stuff in this thread. Here's my approach:
1. I start with a city.
2. I give that city a basic, overarching reason for that city being where it is. (Examples include that the city is along a major trade route or that the city is in an easily defensible location.)
3. I craft my first few adventures around that basic premise.
For example, I placed a city in a valley so that it could ward off the giants that live on the north-east side of the mountain range. My first few adventures dealt with giants threatening the city. (This worked well because I counted orcs and ogres as giants.)
4. I then the use the first few adventures to help define the setting as needed and expand from there.
Example: I start eluding to other places in the early adventures and ideas for future adventures start popping up. Next thing you know, your world is being fleshed out and detailed as needed.
In my opinion, DO NOT start with the world map. That's the last thing you need because that's not what the game is about and it's something the players will never see anyways. I've been running a campaign for 20 years that has never had a world map. It doesn't even have a full map of the main continent. That's not important because it never gets used.
Start with a few points that will make the game different from other games. Go through the supplements you will be using and take notes of what races and classes you will be using, what monsters will be important, and what you want the conflicts to revolve around. Use that as the springboard to determine what kind of politics you need, what kind of city the game will be based in, and so on.
Then start local.
Set up a "point of light" for the game to be based at, and what's around it. Figure out what you want for the first few adventures and then figure out how to link them in and around this point of light.
DO NOT allow yourself to get trapped with a fully detailed world that doesn't have room to improvise something new and cool when you want it. By growing the setting organically as it is needed, you give it the feel of the games you've played in it. Where this will shine will be the second time you run a campaign in the same setting - maybe a city or two over from the first one. The players will recognize some stuff from the last game, but by being placed somewhat away from the first campaign geographically, you get to go back into world-building as the campaign progresses.
(So, basically, treat this as a "Yeah, What Fanboy Said" post)
Here are some things I've found helpful when running games using my own world (which I do for most campaigns).
Design some extra stuff.
Locations; towns, ruins, graveyards, landmarks or whatever else you can think of. Write down the basic idea, a quick sketch or map, and a list of what lives there. That will give you a place you can simply drop into the world wherever you need it. Each location like this shouldn't be too detailed unless you are gauranteed to use it, and will probably only take one page of notebook paper per location.
The same can be done easily for NPCs. Give them a name, profession, goal and one or two distinct traits, and you have a character that can be dropped in to interact with the PCs. Don't worry about making these too detailed, since the players will be unlikely to see all that detail unless the NPC travels with them for some time.
NB: it's your world. Start with those favorite things you wanted to add in. See what meshes well, and what doesn't. Make up whatever events you feel like to force those things to fit. Perhaps the campaign setting is at a confluence of planar realms, and the world has patchwork portions of each. Or maybe the deities themselves simply willed these things into being.
You get to determine the history of this place, use it to justify those things you like. The one point to be careful of is when changing a class's power relative to other classes. Be sure players know the score ahead of time. EX: If magic will be weaker in areas where most of the campaign is played, let them know.