Col_Pladoh said:
Mike, the coming book of that name is really more of a "descriptionary" reference for all that needs to be placed into the txt of a work on fantasy, not how to create the world.
Gary
I thought I'd put my 2 cents in here, as the co-author of the World Builder. A question was asked of me on another forum, "I wish to know if this book is going to only be a work full of items, or is there going to be some actual planned uses for it."
My answer: The book aids in describing things...it is a "descriptionary". It is not just items but also includes a section on real world facts (container weight capacities, gemstones, herbalist lore, geography, etc). The use for the book is to aid when designing a dungeon or any above ground locale. You can use the book as a means to make every place unique. The book can also be used "on the fly"...answering questions such as, "what's in the barrel?" or "I search the body...what do I find?" or "what's in this library?" or "what kind of wood is that chest made out of?"...
Another comment: "If it is going to be listing items, I find that books like that are not that useful to me.
Answer: Yes, it lists items and EVERYTHING inbetween. Flora, fauna, government types, building types and construction materials, etc. If the "detail" aspects of game mastering come to you naturally and if such a massive resource of stuff would not aid in brainstorming, then...I'm impressed. You're right though. I'd bet the sort of GMs who benefit most from such a book are those who focus mostly on story rather than environments. For them this book will be a great aid.
And another question: "What would be some of the helpful ways one could use this book??"
Answer: Let's say you have a game the next night and you want to create a wizards tower and region. You open up the World Builders guide and look a list of the terrian types, tree types, unusal land features, etc and pick them according to your vision...in this it is a creative "brainstorming" aid. Then you go to the building material section and contruct your tower using the book to as a guide to architecture, which will help to describe the place later in-game. And then you use the WB to add rooms to the tower, not according to random charts (although some are provided) but rather according to taste and logic. Lastly, you fill in those rooms with decorations, items, wall and cieling type, blah blah blah. It's all there.
Could you do this without the World Builders? Sure, but this resource can make such work go faster, help to inspire, and represents material from dozens of sources that would take one person a while to unearth and keep in his notebook. I worked on this thing with Gary for nearly two years...I want to use the damn thing now, because a print out of the whole manuscript is HUGE...I want a nice layout like the one that the Trolls will be doing.
There is also tons of D20 material, like new weapons, herbs by magical property (with a magical herb list culled from a datebase that my wife compiled over a years time)...and much more. The table of contents alone is impressive.
In the end, some will find that such a tool is not for them. Not all GMS will find such detail a chore and would rather re-invent the wheel, so to speak. Those are some wonky fellows to be sure. Heh.
