Gazetteers - what to include?

[Gary N. Mengle]

What I need to know are these kinds of things:

- How long should such a gazetteer be, in your opinion?

About 1200-1500 pages, to start with. You'll want to expand it as time goes on. Buy filing cabinets.

- What level of detail?

Well, you'll need detail on each city, town, village and hamlet in the game world, in case the party goes there. You'll need roleplaying notes for each inhabitant, in case the PCs meet them. And wardrobe notes, so you can describe their garb. And what if the PCs kill them or pick their pockets? You'll need a complete breakdown of possessions and finances, including land and nonportable goods. You'll also need to describe each inhabitant's relationships with other inhabitants (I find that flowcharts work great for this.)

- What are the must-include items for the gazetteer to be useful?

Geographical, ethnological and cultural information is paramount. Detail all potential adventure sites, with maps and location keys. Also, be sure to detail resources, economics and trade routes. Be sure to describe in detail the kind of amusements, games and sports that are popular in the world. Styles of architecture and works of engineering are very important, as well - I like to build 1/4 scale models of any important monuments.

- How detailed should the NPCs and their plots be?

I like to write up a 20-30 page background history/current events synopsis for each NPC. Minor NPCs usually only warrant about 5-7 pages. To keep this data secret from my players, I generally write this information in one of the world's langauges. (See below.)

- Is a metaplot a good idea or bad?

You'll want to develop your world's timeline at least 1,000 years into the future and as far back as you need to into the past. I have detailed histories stretching back about 60,000 years, along with somewhat more intricately detailed histories of military units, campaigns and conquest. Of course, you've have to continually adjust your timeline to account for the PC's actions, especially if you allow time-travel.

- Any other darn thing you can think of

Remember to draw up astrological maps of the night sky, tectonic plate maps of the entire world, and heraldry for all your noble families. Map all road systems. You'll also need to illustrate your gazetteer. You ought to do this yourself - other people just can't see your own mental image of your world.

I also like to do a lexicon of about 3,000-10,000 words for each of the languages in the campaign world, along with a comprehensive grammar. If I'm feeling particularly obsessive, I'll write up a couple of book-length epic poems in those langauges.

Lastly, If you play with miniatures, you'll need to sculpt a couple thousand of them. I don't like to use those mass-produced figures that look like eveybody else's.

Hope this helps,

M. A. R. Barker

 

[johnsemlak]

Thanks for the tips, folks! I think I've got a lot to work with now - especially maps and a couple sample adventures. Some other ideas came up too! Fortunately the monsters and PrCs are in a more general setting book (the Gazetteer I'm working on is just for my little portion of the community)

I'll have to find an old GAZ - that's Mystara, right?

Cheers!

-Emiricol

Yes, they were mystera. You can find a lot of their esds here


I really enjoyed them. They were good reads and each one was a mine of material.

I should say that they came out at a different time. There were not nearly as many supplements as there are now. That was before splatbooks. So those Gazatteers were one of the few sources I had seen for stuff like new classes and other player info. I especially liked the system of magic schools in the Glantri book (I'd still like to download it and look into converting them to 3e). Plus, the Ylarum book had a Dervish class, and the Darokin book had a merchant class (I want to convert that to a 3e NPC class as well).

Anyway, a Gazatteer now should be written taking into account all the e3/d20 supplements already available. I wouldn't recommend player information that can easily be found in a splatbook, unless it's setting-specific.

One final piece of advice for now, I would assume that most people who buy your setting book would plan to take bits and pieces of it, not use the setting more or less as is. Try to include things that are 'transportable'. Describe several cities. Describe several tribes of orcs, goblins, kobolds, etc. A forest or a valley.

Also (one more final piece of advice ) Try to make your setting have a particular flavor. That's what I think really attracted me to the GAZ series. The Ylarum book, e.g., was very much like a Arabian Adventures supplement. Teh Glantri book had the perfect "Magocracy Kingdom' flavor.

 

[nameless]

I agree with the people that said good MAPS. Large scale ones and small scale ones, with city names, roads, etc. Labels are important in these maps, since they are the easiest way to familiarize yourself with geography.

Also, major organizations in each area are important. This might include churches, monasteries, universities, guilds, ports, even street gangs. Of course, (this is the tricky part) it's also essential to leave 'gaps' in major influence in some places so the DM can drop in his groups. You also want these environments to be dynamic; static ones are boring. If they're TOO dynamic, then the players feel dwarfed by the events of the world. It's a thin line to walk.

Stuff like wardrobe, architecture, and climate can also be useful. You don't need a dissertation on each of these, but it helps to get a grip on the "reality" of the area.

Finally, I disagree with sample adventures to be placed in the gazeteer. Most DMs never use premade modules and resent the fact that they are intwined with a non-module product. However, some plot hooks can be nice. Maybe an anonymous farmer in town is the former apprentice of a demonologist, and he gets visits sometimes. Perhaps Ghouls are known to live in the graveyard, so an enterprising thug uses that as an M.O. to rob and kill people.

 

[johnsemlak]

Finally, I disagree with sample adventures to be placed in the gazeteer. Most DMs never use premade modules and resent the fact that they are intwined with a non-module product. However, some plot hooks can be nice. Maybe an anonymous farmer in town is the former apprentice of a demonologist, and he gets visits sometimes. Perhaps Ghouls are known to live in the graveyard, so an enterprising thug uses that as an M.O. to rob and kill people.

Well, I don't know stats on # of DMs who use published modules, but certainly all the threads here devoted to 'classic' modules indicate that many people do use them, not to mention that modules are among the best selling D&D products. So, I think a few sample adventures (not necessarily fully fleshed, perhaps just abstracts) are a great idea.

Some DMs may not like that use of space, but I think with any D&D product you ahve to accomodate a wide range of people.

 

[nameless]

Well, I don't know stats on # of DMs who use published modules, but certainly all the threads here devoted to 'classic' modules indicate that many people do use them, not to mention that modules are among the best selling D&D products. So, I think a few sample adventures (not necessarily fully fleshed, perhaps just abstracts) are a great idea.

Some DMs may not like that use of space, but I think with any D&D product you ahve to accomodate a wide range of people.

You know, you're right, and I misspoke. I'm sure plenty of DMs use published modules, I know I've done it at least a couple of times. What I meant to say is that "Gazeteer X" is not mainly a module, it's a book detailing the intricacies of a world. I'm buying it because I'm interested in these details. To have a portion of it used up on a module is selling me something I didn't pay for. If you want modules for the world, then it's quite easy to separate them into multiple products. I'd just rather have them as discrete books instead of a mishmosh.

 

[Emiricol]

I think that, based on that interesting conversation (thanks!) I will include a number of adventure hooks, but leave the modules out of it.

I use modules too, but rarely as intended - they usually aren't recognizable when I'm done with 'em, or I use my own backstory and just use the module so I don't have to work so hard on making my own

Still, some adventure hooks might really help convey the flavor of the place...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Anyway, a Gazatteer now should be written taking into account all the e3/d20 supplements already available. I wouldn't recommend player information that can easily be found in a splatbook, unless it's setting-specific.

Try to avoid referring to other 3E/d20 books (apart from the Core Rules, of course) as much as possible. If you do, just make suggestions on how to integrate this information into your setting, but keep most of it purely optional. You can't gurantee that everyone has the same d20 library as you do, and if they find out they will have to buy half a dozen books just to make the setting work, they are likely to give it a miss.

By all means, read the other d20 works out there for inspiration - but only pick and choose what you absolutely need, and no more.

Also (one more final piece of advice ) Try to make your setting have a particular flavor. That's what I think really attracted me to the GAZ series. The Ylarum book, e.g., was very much like a Arabian Adventures supplement. Teh Glantri book had the perfect "Magocracy Kingdom' flavor.

How does "A World of Cities" sound?

(Thanks for the favorable review, BTW.)

 

[Voadam]

My understanding from the original post was that this was for a particular campaign and a few co-dms, not for a commercial product.

As a Co-DM I would want to know what I need to know to keep a world consistent. So I need background facts, not a plot for my particular games for the next month mapped out for me (If I agree to start C0-DMing I probably have some adventure plans or like to DM on the fly). For instance, I would want to know do orcs worship the orcish pantheon, or do all races worship the same gods as in Dragonlance, Scarred Lands, and Kalamar. If I throw a dragon at the group, are they going to say, Hey, we just did a quest to talk to the last of the dragons last month, and it wasn't this thing ambushing us now, what gives?

Referencing d20 supplements would be fine for a home project, for instance saying this fortress was made using a ritual from the Twin Crowns Campaign Setting Rules, or that these noble assassins from X city use the prc from Librum Equitis I.