Setting Search second stage guidelines

[ladyofdragons]

It's really bothered me that the questions/guidelines for the second stage of WOTC's setting search are considered 'off limits' and nobody can post them. How on earth is it revealing WotC's 'method of operation'? The setting search was created for one purpose only, I would be very surprised the second stage guidelines were WotC's general guidelines for campaign creation, since the last new campaign that was created was what, Dark Sun? Birthright?

I dunno, I was just hoping to create a 100-pager for my campaign just so I could say I have an entire campaign created. Is WotC so worried that 11000 people are going to publish their campaign settings and crowd out their winner? If there is indeed no way to use WotC's guidelines, maybe we should come up with our own set of guidelines for what should be involved in the 10-pager and the 100-pager, so those of us who really wanted to work along with the process can do so.

 

[Piratecat]

It doesn't bother me at all. That's intellectual property. Think about it: if WotC publishes them, what happens? A whole lot of new campaign settings hit the stores, all structured just like WotC's. In my opinion, they'd be fools to make the guidelines available.

I like the idea of us coming up with our own, though.

 

[ladyofdragons]

I like the idea of us coming up with our own, though.

I just realized this would also help Morrus' idea of an ENWorld setting search, since he hasn't been able to get a hold of the 2nd round guidelines himself.

So, I guess we just have to come up with questions whos answers would fill up 10-11 pages. As I've seen in some of the 2nd round people's threads, it looks like the questions were generally a balance of world information and items that 'test' the writer's knowledge of D20.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I just realized this would also help Morrus' idea of an ENWorld setting search, since he hasn't been able to get a hold of the 2nd round guidelines himself.

So, I guess we just have to come up with questions whos answers would fill up 10-11 pages. As I've seen in some of the 2nd round people's threads, it looks like the questions were generally a balance of world information and items that 'test' the writer's knowledge of D20.

I dunno - this would depend strongly on what form the ENWorld Setting Search would take.

One of the proposals was to publish a book with a 50-page setting, and five 10-page settings - which would mean that those 10 pages would have to provide a "rough draft" of the setting that is actually playable!

 

[ladyofdragons]

I dunno - this would depend strongly on what form the ENWorld Setting Search would take.

One of the proposals was to publish a book with a 50-page setting, and five 10-page settings - which would mean that those 10 pages would have to provide a "rough draft" of the setting that is actually playable!

I doubt I could write a whole campaign in 10 pages. a loose framework with some highlights of new/different items, however, sounds plausable.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Oh, well... right now it's not even clear if something like an "ENWorld Setting Search" is actually going to happen, so there's no point in speculating.

 

[seasong]

This sounds like a very good idea. Just throwing my vote in .

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

This sounds like a very good idea. Just throwing my vote in .

Well, first there would have to be something to vote on...

 

[DaemonBolo]

As I work for a d20 company and I am creating a setting for them, I can assure you that it is far more difficult than it sounds. A few things that you have to consider when your creating one.

Internal storyboard: You have to create a storyboard for the writers, one for the GMs and one for the players as each group deals with different pieces. The whole, myth was one reality scenario.

Cosmos: Stars, planes....

Then you need to look at races. Do you want PHB standard? What soceity will each race have? Customs? Dress? Religion? Holidays? For a world setting you really need to detail the races more. It also tends to flesh out the world.

History: You have to have a comprehensive history for the world. You need myths, popular heroes of old, villains, wars, peace, philosophies...

Nations: Population? Diversity? Economy? Landmarks? Military? Technology? Magic?

Classes: Which ones do you want? Are they the same? Different?

Religions: Gods, temples, clerics, what does it mean to worship Nuthead?

Crunchy bits: Prestige classes, magic items, unique materials, artifacts....these advance your world mythos and allow you to give it a feel.

Magic: How it works, new spells and feats....

Monsters: MM standard, new, variations?

Best to have templates for everything to make it uniform. You'll want to gather the same info for all your races and gods etc.

Just a few things you need to look at......it can get complicated.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Just a few things you need to look at......it can get complicated.

Thanks for these tips - they will come in handy for fleshing out my setting. While I think that I am off to a good start, I realize that there is still much work to be done...