Creating a new World: Advices and Suggestions

[Sadras]

I'm Greek and I have read a ton of inconsistencies and conflicts in Wikipedia. For example, Hades was included in the 12 Olympians for years, while he isn't. Wikipedia refers to Homeric tradition and Orphism as resources of equal weight as Hesiod's Theogony.

Not to give you more work but you might want to also look at Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus) if you haven't already done so.

As for inconsistencies there are many and this was due to a variety of factors (including geography), definitely not solely Wikipaedia's fault. With regards to the 12 Gods - well you have to pick your 12 from 14, as there were a floating 3 (the last 3 on the list below).

1. Zeus
2. Hera
3. Poseidon
4. Ares
5. Apollo
6. Artermis
7. Hephaestus
8. Demeter
9. Hermes
10. Athena
11. Aphrodite
12. Hades
13. Hestia
14. Dionysus

 

[Hussar]

Which is fine for that batch of players and that campaign, but if [MENTION=6811422]Commissar[/MENTION] is looking to create something that'll last longer than one campaign and-or be used by more than one batch of players (and by more than one DM?) he/she is better off just getting it all done before starting any campaign.

Meh. Settings are disposable. Starting from the position that this campaign setting is going to be the one and only setting you're going to use for years to come is far too stifling for my tastes. There are just too many cool ideas out there.

 

[Lanefan]

Meh. Settings are disposable. Starting from the position that this campaign setting is going to be the one and only setting you're going to use for years to come is far too stifling for my tastes. There are just too many cool ideas out there.

I take the opposite view: creating a setting or game-world is a lot of work and it's work I only want to have to do once; which makes me want to squeeze everything I can out of it for as long as I can before having to make another.

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

If I was to give you a new World, what would be the first part you would check?

The nearest pub.

 

[Li Shenron]

Although, I am a bit lost since I do not know what people find interesting and what not.

People who are interested in world-building usually find it more interesting to be the writer of such fantasy world than to be the reader of it.

There is a very good chance that nobody else than you will care about your world.

Your players at your gaming table will be certainly interested, but only because you (their friend) made the design effort, not so much about the result itself. In fact, they'll be probably interested in almost everything you could come up with, because they're interested in you.

Personally, what do you prefer?

Seriously, you shouldn't be asking. If you ask what other people prefer or expect, you'll end up doing again the same world that a thousands other people have already written (in fact, even your list proves that so far you've been picking stuff from others' works, just rehashed a bit). The majority of people prefer what is already there, and many can't even think of anything different.

The people who read a lot of RPG stuff all the time will certainly check out your work, browse it a bit and probably also like it, but just as well they will forget it in a heartbit and move to the next.

If you like designing a fantasy world, do it for your own pleasure and forget what other people think. Going after public taste is what professionals do to guarantee a living out of it. You are lucky that you don't have to, so it's best for you that you just design your world the way you really want, and it won't matter then how original or not it will be, either way it will be your own.

 

[Coroc]

[MENTION=6811422]Commissar[/MENTION] Whew i wish i had that time and Patience, well it is a matter of taste on one Hand, you seem to like the detailed myriad of opportunities but,... let me start different.

When i was younger and had more time i would try this alos but it always ended me taking some official Thing and altering it, but if i had to homebrew i would do the same things i do with my altered official Settings:

Strip down!

Reasons:

You are the Individuum with the most knowledge about your world / altered official Setting means you should have all the Details at Hand or know where to look up if needed. Thats a lot of data to Keep in mind all the time.

Do not expect the Players to memorize the Detail of every divine genealogy or to Keep apart the tiny differences of 6 different human subraces.

Just be sure to include the stuff your Players *want* to Play in your world if possible. If you are a fan of Detail then Detail out that scope.

E.g. You offer 27 deities of which 17 are fit for a cleric and 3 for a druid. Your powergamer might check all those Backgrounds for some mechanical Advantage if he wants to Play a cleric. Your roleplayer will read up all the lore to find something interesting Topic to Play and develop. But is it that in your Player Group there are 2 or three Players who want to eventually play a cleric and of which Player type are they? Power gamer, roleplayer or in between?
If you do not want to put your Setting Commercial then you eventually invest a lot of work on stuff which might not ever come up in a game.

So here is how i would do it:

Offer 1 deity for each Domain, eventually you know your Players well enough to know that None of them will ever Play e.g. a nature cleric,

Think about which wizard Schools they Play

Think about wether some of the less prefered classes are played by your Players at all e.g. eventually no one in your Group will ever want to Play a halfling.

Do this with the rest of the classes / subclasses.

Now you know what you either can leave out or do not have to Detail upfront.
Make a spreadsheet for your Players say here is my new homebrew, These are the races /classes (i use detailed commbos also but thats grognard) do you miss something?

Next step is the plot. Is there an overarcing theme like inmost official supplements? What does make your wordl Special e.g. Is it covered with 90% water and ice

What Locations are needed for the plot?

Detail out These, especially the places where the Action shall take place. If you want them not to feel railroaded think of optional Placements of Encounters for when the Group travels.

Now to the fun stuff, (for me at least) And trust me this will get used more often than your 27 deities:

What is the tech Level of the Setting and what is the Magic Level and how are is Magic seen in your world?

What is the economic System, how civilised is everything.

To compress my view: Do anything you have fun with, but for best playing experience put the most work in those Areas which will come up. It is different in official e.g FR, but they got a Legion of artists authors etc. to do this work whereas you are alone.

 

[delericho]

There is a very good chance that nobody else than you will care about your world.

Harsh, but very true.

Your players at your gaming table will be certainly interested...

I'm really not convinced about this. I'm afraid my experience with players is that they tend towards doing absolutely no reading outside of the game, and certainly not more than the very briefest of skims of DM-created worlds. I might just have been unlucky in this, but somehow I don't think so.

If you like designing a fantasy world, do it for your own pleasure and forget what other people think.

This, incidentally, is probably the single best piece of event in this thread, including any posts that are yet to be written.

 

[Hussar]

Harsh, but very true.



I'm really not convinced about this. I'm afraid my experience with players is that they tend towards doing absolutely no reading outside of the game, and certainly not more than the very briefest of skims of DM-created worlds. I might just have been unlucky in this, but somehow I don't think so.



This, incidentally, is probably the single best piece of event in this thread, including any posts that are yet to be written.

I'll cop to the fact that as a DM, I've had pretty much exactly this experience as well, and, as a player, I'm every bit as guilty as anyone else.

It's pretty much the reason I've largely given up on world building. It's not something I ever really enjoyed all that much, and the fact that no one else at the table could give the slightest toss about it pretty much means that my motivation to create worlds is about as close to zero as it can get.

FATE really nails it AFAIC.

 

[Eltab]

Start with the stuff that will come up in play.

All 90 gods won't come up immediately. Which one (or handful) like to involve themselves in mortal affairs? Concentrate on them first. The others can show up in later adventure modules, or in the background narration.

Have you read Bulfinch's Mythology? That was the standard pre-Internet English language version of the Greek gods and their associated myths.

+1 to "the cycle written behind history".
- But you only need details on one to start - the Current Age.
- Earlier ages should be the stuff of legend and myth; the PCs get bits and hints and glimpses (which may be distorted or otherwise inaccurate).
- At higher levels, the PCs might encounter somebody who is writing the script for "later acts" of the Current Age. He/she/it has a copy of the text for the Previous Age(s). Or might even be even doodling notes for the Next Age.
- The PCs should eventually discover they are in the Stasima period of the current age. This gives a sense of openness and hope that will attract IRL buyers.
(Later you can write the Apocalypsis module that feels like Dark Sun.)

As noted above, list 10 Things That Make This Setting Unique. The Script of History would be one such; so would the 'Greek mythology' atmosphere. The 4e Dark Sun Campaign Setting had this on about page 3, if you want to take a look at an example.

 

[Jester David]

Scrap everything you've done.

Turn to the players, and get THEM to create 90% of your setting. That way they're actually informed about the setting without having to wade through page after page of setting exposition, which, frankly they don't care about and, this has the added bonus of actually investing them in the world.

Which is to building characters through play and letting the player's actions in the game determine their class choices, subclass, feats, and the like.
It's cool and a little like Skyrim where you get better by doing. But it gets right in the way of a lot of player fun, as they like to build and plan their character.

Worldbuilding is lonely fun for the DM. It's what they do rather than working on a PC build. It's how they "play" the game between sessions.

Shared worldbuilding really requires the right group. It needs a stable group, as you can't change players halfway through. It requires players who all want the exact same tone for the game as the DM, otherwise you get a world with "the Stygian Marshes", the "Gloompeak Mountains", the "Hwrectheteki Plains" and "the grand capital city of Crapberg ruled by Good King Bob".

Also, from experience, not everyone is inspired at the right time. When the DM asks you what's to the north, everyone can freeze as they're on the spot. It favours the player most skilled at improvisation, who will end up doing the lion's share of the design.

Plus, DMs are most excited about the story when they care about the campaign. If you don't like the world and the plot, you're not going to run the best session. You're going to end up phoning it in. If you take a big Eberron fan and throw them into a Greyhawk campaign, they're going to end up running a Greyhawk campaign because they don't care about the world or its inhabitants.