D&D 5E What's the Best Setting TEMPLATE?

[LordEntrails]

What setting book or guide is the best for developing other settings? What would you recommend, with or without caveats, as the "Go To Source" for what a setting guide should look like?

• Layout? What has the best structure for reading and referencing? Which setting publication is so easy to use you can find everything you need quickly?
• Content? Obviously you need locations and maps, important NPC's and organizations. Which setting is the one you would use when you want to have everything you need defined (but not useless trivia either!)

Though, right now I'm thinking of print/PDF format, what digital formats and guides are worth considering?

 

[discosoc]

Are you talking about stuff like chapter order and layout, or steps to actually build your setting lore?

 

[Hussar]

For me, the best setting template is modules. I just can't be bothered overmuch with setting books that give me umpteen NPC's, each with a couple of sentence worth of plot hook and then leave it to me to write the adventure. I might as well use my own setting if you're going to do that.

I'd rather have a setting book in the vein of Tales of the Yawning Portal which presents ten different adventures (or however many) based on presenting the setting. I have to admit, I LOVE the way Paizo has presented Golarian.

 

[Gradine]

I'm heavily biased, but anytime I try to create my own setting I start with the 3.5 Eberron Campaign Setting. The 10 things you need to know in particular is a great way to introduce the tone and feel and most important bits of lore in the setting out first, before getting into the nuts and bolts of it.

 

[SkidAce]

I'm heavily biased, but anytime I try to create my own setting I start with the 3.5 Eberron Campaign Setting. The 10 things you need to know in particular is a great way to introduce the tone and feel and most important bits of lore in the setting out first, before getting into the nuts and bolts of it.

I use the 3e FRCS format, but I like the sound of what you are describing. Let me go pull that off the shelf and compare.

 

[jgsugden]

Give us the big picture. Show us what is unique about the setting. Give us the nations, the Gods, the leaders. Then pick one area of your world and give us the details of one community. Then write an adventure that starts in that community.

 

[Zardnaar]

3.0 FRCS the 3.5 Eberron and Golarions Inner Sea World Guide are the best ones IMHO.

 

[LordEntrails]

So what I'm doing is I already have an adventure series (only the first is yet published, Balance Disturbed on the DMsG). But, I realize as I detail out more and more of these adventures, I have lots of supporting information on the region. It seems like it would make sense to put this into a settings guide. So that's why I'm asking.

Given that I'm using the FR, I won't need to detail the gods, but I do need to detail the region, organizations/power brokers and such.
[MENTION=57112]Gradine[/MENTION], I've never read the Eberron CS, so I'll go check that one out (assuming I can find it reasonable priced). [MENTION=6716779]Zardnaar[/MENTION], Never heard of the Inner Sea World Guide, I'll see what Google can tell me.

 

[LordEntrails]

Are you talking about stuff like chapter order and layout, or steps to actually build your setting lore?

Order and layout. I've already got much of the lore (and all of the geography).

 

[discosoc]

Order and layout. I've already got much of the lore (and all of the geography).

Then it's going to depend on your setting. It's also going to depend on if you intend the book to be useful as a reference during play, or logically ordered for another purpose (such as character creation). There's really no template, though.

My personal thoughts:

If the book is intended to be literary, or more fluff-focuses, you'll want to go with the general order of People>Places>Things>Ideas. So your "people" section will deal with races and/or cultures, then your "places" section moves onto regions and/or kingdoms. The "things" section would deal with setting-important gear, transportation, and communication concepts. The layout is finished with the "ideas" section, which handles religion and magic.

If the book should be more of an in-game reference, then People>Things>Places>Ideas usually flows better, IMO.

Lastly, I'm a huge proponent of splitting up Settings Books into two. One meant for the player, and one meant for the GM. I know it's always annoying to have to bring a book where 80% of the material was only useful during character creation or adventuring prepping, just so you can get to that one chart of herbs or something.