FireLance
Legend
Webcomic author Shamus Young tells you why you don't need to spend hours crafting your campaign setting:
From here. Discuss.Shamus Young said:
Why Worldbuilding is Bad II
Roudi
First Post
Too generalized to be a worthwhile opinion to consider - sounds like he's relating his own group's experiences and nothing more. Besides, leaving blank space just encourages curiosity. Of course players are going to want to explore the unknown, even if months of adventure await within the mapped regions.
The answer to the quoted individual's problem is simple... map out your world, then give the players the blank version of that map. Let them feel like you're fleshing it out on the spot, even though you're really using your prepared material.
And for gods' sakes, it isn't that hard to pull some elements off the top of your head. Improvisation is a good skill.
The answer to the quoted individual's problem is simple... map out your world, then give the players the blank version of that map. Let them feel like you're fleshing it out on the spot, even though you're really using your prepared material.
And for gods' sakes, it isn't that hard to pull some elements off the top of your head. Improvisation is a good skill.
howandwhy99
Adventurer
Who in your world gave the characters a World Map? Isn't that just asking for trouble?
BlackMoria
First Post
In the real world, in the medieval period, certain scholars would have a map of the know world.
However, the average Joe (99.9% of the population at that time) wouldn't have a clue what the known world encompassed or even looked like on a map. The average Joe's 'world' was probably 100 miles radius (and I would submit far less) from the village where he/she was born and beyond that, he would know almost nothing except as rumors or hearsay from travellers passing through.
In a campaign world, it would be much the same thing. The average Joe might know what the next few villages over were like and he may of heard stories of some city, country or whatever in some distant land but he certainly couldn't give you directions to it, much less point it out on a map, even if one was provided.
IMC, assuming the usual paradigm of PCs starting as people with humble beginning, the PCs start know only the areas within a certain radius of where they grew up and all the rest is rumor, story and minstrel's fancies. They discover the larger world as they adventure.
However, the average Joe (99.9% of the population at that time) wouldn't have a clue what the known world encompassed or even looked like on a map. The average Joe's 'world' was probably 100 miles radius (and I would submit far less) from the village where he/she was born and beyond that, he would know almost nothing except as rumors or hearsay from travellers passing through.
In a campaign world, it would be much the same thing. The average Joe might know what the next few villages over were like and he may of heard stories of some city, country or whatever in some distant land but he certainly couldn't give you directions to it, much less point it out on a map, even if one was provided.
IMC, assuming the usual paradigm of PCs starting as people with humble beginning, the PCs start know only the areas within a certain radius of where they grew up and all the rest is rumor, story and minstrel's fancies. They discover the larger world as they adventure.
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