Behind the Screens: Worldbuilding

A new Behind the Scenes article has been posted on the official D&D website. This time the column - by D&D art director Richard Whitters - takes a look at worldbuilding. "When I was asked to write an article on DMing, my mind was flooded with ideas: neat little add-on mechanics, worldbuilding tips, trick monsters, and a dozen of other thoughts that I'd made notes on. In the end, I thought I'd describe how I run a game, and give a few tips that might be helpful to new DMs."

You can find the article here.

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[Wolfskin]

This is a nice article. Nothing groundbreaking, but good old advice nonetheless.

 

[neobolts]

More solid tidbits for new DMs. Oh, to be a skilled artist, though! So jealous.

 

[Roger]

Some good stuff here. I like the overall "there's more than one way to do it right" vibe I'm getting from wotc lately. And the map made me feel like I was back in Titan again, so good work there.

 

[Nebulous]

If your players leave the table asking you and questions and making plans for the next session;

If they obsessively want to thwart the villain in the next adventure;

If they are excited about the next place they get to explore;

If they feel like they have been watching (and helping to make) the most amazing television series that has ever been created . . .

. . . you win D&D*!

 

[Chimpy]

Some nice thoughts. Looking forward to more in this series.

 

[Patrick McGill]

Alas, I see no comments section to tell him I'd like him to write an article about everything he mentioned.

 

[Morrus]

Alas, I see no comments section to tell him I'd like him to write an article about everything he mentioned.

Consider this the comments section! With luck, he'll see it!

 

[Grainger]

"You have a week until your next game session: lots of time to make up some intriguing and surprising ideas and prep a few notes."

That put me to shame, really. I realised he's right. I've been procrastinating, and putting off game prep until the very day (when I've had weeks to prepare). In the past, I just got on with it. So this evening, I started mulling over where the party is headed, and came up with some great ideas, finally noted down others I'd had at the back of my mind, and finally figured out how to draw two of the PCs' back-stories into the campaign. It's a great little article overall, and that sentence makes it worth reading for me, let alone the rest of the piece, which is all good. This makes me realise how much I miss a regular print magazine, really - just reading about the hobby in a relaxed way would encourage me to put more time and, well, heart into my gaming.

 

[HobbitFan]

I thought this was interesting and useful. I had wondered what the comments on the podcast about world-building were in reference to. Perhaps this...