Information for my players? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Thukad Oct 17, 2011 18:31:39	So right now I'm trying to organize all the information I have for my world to something that I can present to my players so that they can make my characters. What do you usually share with your players at the beginning of a campaign or before character creation? I've really enjoyed "the ten minute background" for character creation. Is there something like that for worlds? Something to help me sell the world to my players? The problem is I've always been a player and now after a several year break from DnD I'm going to be DM right off the bat. So any help is appreciated.
#2 suikadon Oct 17, 2011 19:53:35	I'm starting a campaign on a new world myself, so these are the things I plan on sharing at the beginning: A basic overview of the races that live in your world, if any races were removed, or if you added new ones (it would be good for the players to know those things before starting the campaign, unless there's some reason for them to belive a race exists/doesn't exist in the world). Brief descriptions of the major regions, kingdoms (or empires, or anything that exists in your world). I intend on describing both the region itself and the customs/culture on broad lines. Historical events of relevance in the world. Something particularly important like a war that created tension between two races, or a cataclysm that defined the geography of the world should be mentioned to the players. The basics about the deities/chosmology of the world. I try thinking about the characters the players will be playing as, and imagine what would they know about the world given their origins and background. That could be a good point to start when thinking what to share with them (and how much to share) at the beginning of the campaign. Good luck with your campaign, and I hope you have a wonderful DMing experience.
#3 DeathByDonut Oct 17, 2011 21:17:35	Having been a DM for over a decade and running many many many homebrew worlds. Finding different ways to portray the feelings that you put into your world is very difficult. You put so much time, effort, thought and dare I say feeling, into the worlds you build, as a DM you just want to jam everything you worked on into the player's faces hoping they absorb the time and care that you put into it. This is a very bad approach. An important thing to remember is that it took you time to come up with everything for your world. Let your players explore and discover the realm organically it will be far more rewarding for the players overall. When I introduce the world I explain no more than I need to for the current adventure. If the players are starting in a town, I tell them a brief over view of the town, maybe the common power struggles going on in the area, and just general things that are important for the adventure at hand. A warning; avoid anything that resembles homework, or long explanations that make your Players' eyes glaze over. Concise explanations of current relevant information. In other words even though a city may be relevant, only the current information is important. Don't go into the entire history of the city if it has nothing to do with the story. If it is important to the story, keep it very concise. If the explanation of your whole campaign is more than 2-3 paragraphs in length, it's too long. And if the immediate area is more than one paragraphs, then it's too long. I've built many worlds with many different approaches to explaining it to the Players, from the book length "here's the history of my D&D universe" to Your characters are in a city named blah blah, go. So it's important to find a good medium for your group which is completely dependent the group itself. But I would avoid eye glazing, dice tower making, book rummaging, phone texting blocks of explanation. Good gaming and happy DMing.
#4 Houndstooth Oct 17, 2011 23:08:24	I created a wiki to help me organize my thoughts, then I linked it to the players so they could read as much or as little as they wanted... I had changed some races, added some, and taken away a few. I even combined a couple. Classes where similarly changed mostly in flavor of how the world saw them. Wizards all lived at sea for instance, so if you were a wizard, you either came from the sea, or had a back story as to why you didn't, ect... But all that was in the wiki for them to look over in the few weeks before character creation. More then enough time for them to read what they wanted. Then we all sat down to make characters together, not roll them, just make them up, then they rolled on their own over the next week before play.... it went well if you want the link to the wiki let me know.
#5 yronimosw Oct 18, 2011 4:25:11	Try to boil your setting down to a sentence or two that captures the mood and theme as vividly as possible. If you can't describe your setting in a sentence or two, there's a good chance it will be too convoluted and weird for any but the most dedicated player to make sense of. Something like: "Picture a horror-themed Mission: Impossible at a gaslight/Old West technology level, in a low-magic desert world populated by humans and dark Elves. Your characters should be expert members of a team of spies that can trust each other and work closely together as a close-knit party." Also, mention any major house-rules, limitations of your unique setting, or other restrictions that might directly effect character creation and player and character interaction. Again, less is more - if you virtually have to create a new Player's Handbook and then spend a few hours explaining all the strange changes, your players will get really frustrated really quickly. [spoiler Examples of House-Rule and Other Important Info] Mention the game system being used, if there's even a possibility your group will be surprised by your choice of RPG system (4th Edition is likely to be the standard for many groups, but there are still a lot of 3rd/3.5E/generic OGL D20, and even 1st, 2nd, and "OD&D" Edition gamers out here; likewise, if you are using an old or otherwise non-standard rules system, your players should know about it if there's any chance they are assuming 4th Edition.) You should also mention any home-brewed restrictions your players should know about before they create characters ("There are no Half-Orcs, Half-Elves, or Dragonborn in this world, but Goblins are a PC race.") You should also mention any house-rules and/or book restrictions in place for your game world ("The feat 'Munchkin-Shape' is not allowed in this game, and the book Game-Breaker's Handbook and any book published by Hanover-Fiste Publishing is not allowed; I will consider other third-party content only on a case-by-case basis.") Mention any important assumptions about the PCs that Players should be aware of before creating characters. For example, your players should know about your campaign's official position on Player-vs.-Player attacks or other shenanigans, any chance that your game will steer into sexual situations (or anything else that might make players uncomfortable), and your campaign's treatment of PC death (will you be running an aggressively deadly campaign, or will you be pulling punches and fudging dice rolls to keep PCs alive?) I recommend developing your unique campaign setting with the help of your players, if you can, or at least keeping your setting flexible enough that you can encourage them to create their own religions, home towns, history, and so on that you can integrate into your world, even their own carefully-balanced new PC races and other ideas that touch on mechanics (within reason.) The less freedom the players have to invent their own backgrounds and descriptions and contribute their own personal touch, the more likely they are going to be to feel like they have no investment in the campaign setting, and the more likely they will be to "phone in" minimal immersion in the setting. ("Dawn of Worlds" (link) suggests one way to collaborate on world-building with other people, such as players.) [/spoiler] Beyond the one- or two-sentence description of the game's theme, information that would directly effect the player's choice of races and classes, and important house-rules, it's probably best to unfold setting details in small doses as they come up, and leave as much as possible of the other information in a Wiki or an optional-reading cheatsheet booklet of bonus information, so that interested players can read up on if they want to, but nobody is really hurt if they don't memorize volumes of begats just to survive in your setting.
#6 Thukad Oct 18, 2011 12:19:42	I created a wiki to help me organize my thoughts, then I linked it to the players so they could read as much or as little as they wanted... I had changed some races, added some, and taken away a few. I even combined a couple. Classes where similarly changed mostly in flavor of how the world saw them. Wizards all lived at sea for instance, so if you were a wizard, you either came from the sea, or had a back story as to why you didn't, ect... But all that was in the wiki for them to look over in the few weeks before character creation. More then enough time for them to read what they wanted. Then we all sat down to make characters together, not roll them, just make them up, then they rolled on their own over the next week before play.... it went well if you want the link to the wiki let me know. I would love to see it!
#7 Thukad Oct 18, 2011 12:49:35	Okay. This is what I'm thinking of sending my players today so they can make their characters. Setting Theme: Imagine a city of adventuring knights on the coast of a Naya (MtG) styled jungle continent, where there is always a city to retake, treasure to find, and a tournament to win. Your characters will be adventurers that have come to make a name for themselves. Character Options Races- No deva, no githzeri, no shardminds, no wilden. Beyond that, if it’s not in the Player Handbooks just ask me and we'll talk it out. Classes- If you play a fey class, be ready to hide it or to be from a tribal society. Fey magic was declared heresy over 700 years ago. There is currently no known fey connection between the material plane and the feywild. World History A few centuries ago the kingdoms and empires of the continent Felizeen discovered the continent of Nekoti. Colonization brought the tribes of Nekoti and the Empires of Felizeen into all out war. Almost half a century ago the colonies united with the tribes and rebelled. The empires turned on each other after their loss hoping to get beat old rivals while they were weak. The world is growing ever darker as the last points of light are snuffed out. Important Places to Know about. Rennes the Empire of the Sun- An empire of rolling hills and farmlands ruled by the Pheonix Emperor. Musketeers and Cavaliers keep the peace admist political intrigue. In Felizeen. Byrtonil the Starry Realm- A misty land of highlands and lonely islands ruled by aloof nobles who watch over even more aloof astrologists. In Felizeen. The Mountain Kingdom of Dragovia- A nation of mountain strongholds and mining communities. Military precision and order seen throughout society. In Felizeen. Mechanicsburg- A steam and gear run city state where articifers, mad scientists, and goblins fight each other while warforged keep the peace. Think Steampunk. In between Nekoti and Felizeen. The Wastes- A nightmarish land where the remains of several empires and duchies are constantly being fought over by demons, robbers, undead, shadowfell creatures, and even far realm monsters. No mans land. In Felizeen The Port Kingdom of White Haven- A small kingdom on the jungle coasts of Nekoti in the new world. Run by champion knights and protected by popular adventurers. Rebuilding and looking for fresh blood. You begin the game here. The Grey Peaks- A major trade route among rainy peaks where grim dwarves are under constant siege. In Felizeen. The Free Republic of Perendur- A somewhat chaotic nation of freedom where mayors, rich seafaring merchants, honor bound marines and the common man are always being swept up in elections of some kind. In Nekoti.

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

Thukad

Oct 17, 2011 18:31:39

So right now I'm trying to organize all the information I have for my world to something that I can present to my players so that they can make my characters.

What do you usually share with your players at the beginning of a campaign or before character creation?
I've really enjoyed "the ten minute background" for character creation. Is there something like that for worlds? Something to help me sell the world to my players?

The problem is I've always been a player and now after a several year break from DnD I'm going to be DM right off the bat. So any help is appreciated.

suikadon

Oct 17, 2011 19:53:35

I'm starting a campaign on a new world myself, so these are the things I plan on sharing at the beginning:

A basic overview of the races that live in your world, if any races were removed, or if you added new ones (it would be good for the players to know those things before starting the campaign, unless there's some reason for them to belive a race exists/doesn't exist in the world).

Brief descriptions of the major regions, kingdoms (or empires, or anything that exists in your world). I intend on describing both the region itself and the customs/culture on broad lines.

Historical events of relevance in the world. Something particularly important like a war that created tension between two races, or a cataclysm that defined the geography of the world should be mentioned to the players.

The basics about the deities/chosmology of the world.

I try thinking about the characters the players will be playing as, and imagine what would they know about the world given their origins and background. That could be a good point to start when thinking what to share with them (and how much to share) at the beginning of the campaign.

Good luck with your campaign, and I hope you have a wonderful DMing experience.

DeathByDonut

Oct 17, 2011 21:17:35

Having been a DM for over a decade and running many many many homebrew worlds. Finding different ways to portray the feelings that you put into your world is very difficult. You put so much time, effort, thought and dare I say feeling, into the worlds you build, as a DM you just want to jam everything you worked on into the player's faces hoping they absorb the time and care that you put into it. This is a very bad approach. An important thing to remember is that it took you time to come up with everything for your world. Let your players explore and discover the realm organically it will be far more rewarding for the players overall.

When I introduce the world I explain no more than I need to for the current adventure. If the players are starting in a town, I tell them a brief over view of the town, maybe the common power struggles going on in the area, and just general things that are important for the adventure at hand.

A warning; avoid anything that resembles homework, or long explanations that make your Players' eyes glaze over. Concise explanations of current relevant information. In other words even though a city may be relevant, only the current information is important. Don't go into the entire history of the city if it has nothing to do with the story. If it is important to the story, keep it very concise. If the explanation of your whole campaign is more than 2-3 paragraphs in length, it's too long. And if the immediate area is more than one paragraphs, then it's too long.

I've built many worlds with many different approaches to explaining it to the Players, from the book length "here's the history of my D&D universe" to Your characters are in a city named blah blah, go.

So it's important to find a good medium for your group which is completely dependent the group itself. But I would avoid eye glazing, dice tower making, book rummaging, phone texting blocks of explanation. Good gaming and happy DMing.

Houndstooth

Oct 17, 2011 23:08:24

I created a wiki to help me organize my thoughts, then I linked it to the players so they could read as much or as little as they wanted...
I had changed some races, added some, and taken away a few. I even combined a couple. Classes where similarly changed mostly in flavor of how the world saw them. Wizards all lived at sea for instance, so if you were a wizard, you either came from the sea, or had a back story as to why you didn't, ect...

But all that was in the wiki for them to look over in the few weeks before character creation. More then enough time for them to read what they wanted.

Then we all sat down to make characters together, not roll them, just make them up, then they rolled on their own over the next week before play.... it went well

if you want the link to the wiki let me know.

yronimosw

Oct 18, 2011 4:25:11

Try to boil your setting down to a sentence or two that captures the mood and theme as vividly as possible. If you can't describe your setting in a sentence or two, there's a good chance it will be too convoluted and weird for any but the most dedicated player to make sense of. Something like:

"Picture a horror-themed Mission: Impossible at a gaslight/Old West technology level, in a low-magic desert world populated by humans and dark Elves. Your characters should be expert members of a team of spies that can trust each other and work closely together as a close-knit party."

Also, mention any major house-rules, limitations of your unique setting, or other restrictions that might directly effect character creation and player and character interaction. Again, less is more - if you virtually have to create a new Player's Handbook and then spend a few hours explaining all the strange changes, your players will get really frustrated really quickly.

[spoiler Examples of House-Rule and Other Important Info]
Mention the game system being used, if there's even a possibility your group will be surprised by your choice of RPG system (4th Edition is likely to be the standard for many groups, but there are still a lot of 3rd/3.5E/generic OGL D20, and even 1st, 2nd, and "OD&D" Edition gamers out here; likewise, if you are using an old or otherwise non-standard rules system, your players should know about it if there's any chance they are assuming 4th Edition.)

You should also mention any home-brewed restrictions your players should know about before they create characters ("There are no Half-Orcs, Half-Elves, or Dragonborn in this world, but Goblins are a PC race.")

You should also mention any house-rules and/or book restrictions in place for your game world ("The feat 'Munchkin-Shape' is not allowed in this game, and the book Game-Breaker's Handbook and any book published by Hanover-Fiste Publishing is not allowed; I will consider other third-party content only on a case-by-case basis.")

Mention any important assumptions about the PCs that Players should be aware of before creating characters. For example, your players should know about your campaign's official position on Player-vs.-Player attacks or other shenanigans, any chance that your game will steer into sexual situations (or anything else that might make players uncomfortable), and your campaign's treatment of PC death (will you be running an aggressively deadly campaign, or will you be pulling punches and fudging dice rolls to keep PCs alive?)

I recommend developing your unique campaign setting with the help of your players, if you can, or at least keeping your setting flexible enough that you can encourage them to create their own religions, home towns, history, and so on that you can integrate into your world, even their own carefully-balanced new PC races and other ideas that touch on mechanics (within reason.) The less freedom the players have to invent their own backgrounds and descriptions and contribute their own personal touch, the more likely they are going to be to feel like they have no investment in the campaign setting, and the more likely they will be to "phone in" minimal immersion in the setting. ("Dawn of Worlds" (link) suggests one way to collaborate on world-building with other people, such as players.)
[/spoiler]

Beyond the one- or two-sentence description of the game's theme, information that would directly effect the player's choice of races and classes, and important house-rules, it's probably best to unfold setting details in small doses as they come up, and leave as much as possible of the other information in a Wiki or an optional-reading cheatsheet booklet of bonus information, so that interested players can read up on if they want to, but nobody is really hurt if they don't memorize volumes of begats just to survive in your setting.

Thukad

Oct 18, 2011 12:19:42

I created a wiki to help me organize my thoughts, then I linked it to the players so they could read as much or as little as they wanted...
I had changed some races, added some, and taken away a few. I even combined a couple. Classes where similarly changed mostly in flavor of how the world saw them. Wizards all lived at sea for instance, so if you were a wizard, you either came from the sea, or had a back story as to why you didn't, ect...

But all that was in the wiki for them to look over in the few weeks before character creation. More then enough time for them to read what they wanted.

Then we all sat down to make characters together, not roll them, just make them up, then they rolled on their own over the next week before play.... it went well

if you want the link to the wiki let me know.

I would love to see it!

Thukad

Oct 18, 2011 12:49:35

Okay. This is what I'm thinking of sending my players today so they can make their characters.

Setting Theme: Imagine a city of adventuring knights on the coast of a Naya (MtG) styled jungle continent, where there is always a city to retake, treasure to find, and a tournament to win. Your characters will be adventurers that have come to make a name for themselves.

Character Options

Races- No deva, no githzeri, no shardminds, no wilden. Beyond that, if it’s not in the Player Handbooks just ask me and we'll talk it out.

Classes- If you play a fey class, be ready to hide it or to be from a tribal society. Fey magic was declared heresy over 700 years ago. There is currently no known fey connection between the material plane and the feywild.

World History

A few centuries ago the kingdoms and empires of the continent Felizeen discovered the continent of Nekoti. Colonization brought the tribes of Nekoti and the Empires of Felizeen into all out war. Almost half a century ago the colonies united with the tribes and rebelled. The empires turned on each other after their loss hoping to get beat old rivals while they were weak. The world is growing ever darker as the last points of light are snuffed out.

Important Places to Know about.

Rennes the Empire of the Sun- An empire of rolling hills and farmlands ruled by the Pheonix Emperor. Musketeers and Cavaliers keep the peace admist political intrigue. In Felizeen.

Byrtonil the Starry Realm- A misty land of highlands and lonely islands ruled by aloof nobles who watch over even more aloof astrologists. In Felizeen.

The Mountain Kingdom of Dragovia- A nation of mountain strongholds and mining communities. Military precision and order seen throughout society. In Felizeen.

Mechanicsburg- A steam and gear run city state where articifers, mad scientists, and goblins fight each other while warforged keep the peace. Think Steampunk. In between Nekoti and Felizeen.

The Wastes- A nightmarish land where the remains of several empires and duchies are constantly being fought over by demons, robbers, undead, shadowfell creatures, and even far realm monsters. No mans land. In Felizeen

The Port Kingdom of White Haven- A small kingdom on the jungle coasts of Nekoti in the new world. Run by champion knights and protected by popular adventurers. Rebuilding and looking for fresh blood. You begin the game here.

The Grey Peaks- A major trade route among rainy peaks where grim dwarves are under constant siege. In Felizeen.

The Free Republic of Perendur- A somewhat chaotic nation of freedom where mayors, rich seafaring merchants, honor bound marines and the common man are always being swept up in elections of some kind. In Nekoti.