Let's Talk About RPG Worldbuilding

[Yora]

Of course fiction creation is more than only worldbuilding. But you can not have much of a story without a setting.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Of course fiction creation is more than only worldbuilding. But you can not have much of a story without a setting.

I'm thinking that you're letting "setting" do quite a lot of work here, and mean it to be "any information at all." So, if I say, "you're in a big fantasy city," that's setting to you? Because, I can absolutely kick a game off with just that.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

Of course fiction creation is more than only worldbuilding. But you can not have much of a story without a setting.

Agreed, although there's different school of though concerning how subordinate that setting should be to other elements, my hot take is that chekhov's gun is the worst thing to happen to fantasy fiction-- I also see it as interrelated with the idea that setting should be as minimalist as it can be while fulfilling its role in TRPGs.

 

[Yora]

I'm thinking that you're letting "setting" do quite a lot of work here, and mean it to be "any information at all." So, if I say, "you're in a big fantasy city," that's setting to you? Because, I can absolutely kick a game off with just that.

Of course. You have to have worldbuilding, but it can be very little to support a story.

 

[Reynard]

I'm thinking that you're letting "setting" do quite a lot of work here, and mean it to be "any information at all." So, if I say, "you're in a big fantasy city," that's setting to you? Because, I can absolutely kick a game off with just that.

Only because a bunch of tropes likely familiar to all the players does a ton of work for you. You aren't "not world building" when you say "big fantasy city" and leave it at that, you are just letting the players fill in the gaps with assumptions based on their preferences and experiences. That's efficient in its way, but it does pose the danger of folks internal image of the "big fantasy city" not aligning with one another's or yours. One player thinks they are in Lahnkmar and another thinks they are in Camelot and you are running an adventure someplace completely different.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One player thinks they are in Lahnkmar and another thinks they are in Camelot and you are running an adventure someplace completely different.

…like Ankh-Morpork.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Only because a bunch of tropes likely familiar to all the players does a ton of work for you. You aren't "not world building" when you say "big fantasy city" and leave it at that, you are just letting the players fill in the gaps with assumptions based on their preferences and experiences. That's efficient in its way, but it does pose the danger of folks internal image of the "big fantasy city" not aligning with one another's or yours. One player thinks they are in Lahnkmar and another thinks they are in Camelot and you are running an adventure someplace completely different.

Hasn't been a problem, likely because this approach doesn't rely on the GM having prep to follow. Everything's established at the table, in the open.

 

[Reynard]

Hasn't been a problem, likely because this approach doesn't rely on the GM having prep to follow. Everything's established at the table, in the open.

I didn't say it was a problem. I said it was not "not world building."

 

[dragoner]

chekhov's gun is the worst thing to happen to fantasy fiction

It is a paradox, in regular fiction it is suspense; except in an rpg players would feel wronged if a gun such as that appeared without foreshadowing, and if foreshadowed, they would try to use it.

 

[Shiroiken]

I technically don't use "worldbuilding," since I use Greyhawk or Rokugan for my RPG settings. However, in both cases I have to do a lot of filling in of details, which is where I focus my efforts. I usually design a primary base of operations, with most important NPCs being someone the party is expected to interact with, but a few just names for reference. I try to give the location a living feeling, with events moving forward even without the party interacting directly with it.

The few times I have done full worldbuilding, I usually focus on where I want to start and how we got there. This can be something as simple as a fallen empire or migration, or as complex as the creation of the universe, where the gods are active in the world.