D&D 5E Advice on Setting Creation

[Ramlatus]

GOAL: To create a good setting for me to create and run a campaign in.


Resources I have and have read/watched
Sly Flourish's The Lazy Dungeon Master
Sly Flourish's Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master
Pathfinder GameMastery Guide
D&D DMG – 5e, 4e, 3.5, AD&D 2nd, AD&D 1st
D&D DMG II – 4e, 3.5
AD&D World Builder's Guidebook
The Kobold Guide To Worldbuilding
Pathfinder Ultimate Campaign
Savage Worlds World Builder Guide
Several other lesser known books
Countless articles
Dozens of youtube videos from various DMs


I have been trying to create a basic setting for a 5e game I hope to run when this Covid-19 thing is over. What I have found is that many of these sources have GREAT ideas and advice. Unfortunately what they don't do very well is define the exact steps to creating a setting and what items I absolutely need to create before the game begins. It could also be that I have so much information and differing methods that it is getting in my way of actually moving forward. I am looking for a relatively quick way to create a good setting to set my fantasy games in.
Much of the advice I have read and found uses setting and campaign interchangeably, but I am creating the setting for me to have my campaigns in. The setting is separate from the campaign, because you can reuse the setting for the same group with different characters.


Notes
*I do not currently have a group of players
*I would prefer to have a basic setting put together before I start a group, so that I can concentrate on campaign/adventure creation once I have a game going. Yes I know that there will be some setting building during the course of a campaign.
*I have been an occasional, on the very rare occasions I could find other players, player for a very long time. This will be my first time DMing.
*While I can improv a little bit, I am much better at planning with various contingencies in place for when the game goes in another direction.

 

[commandercrud]

They don't define the exact steps because there are no exact steps. Write your campaign, and develop the setting as you need/want to as you go. You need very little to get started, but many DMs enjoy spending hours and hours going overboard detailing the weirdest unnecessary things.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If you want to create a world for your own amusement, focus on the bits that most interest you and work out from there. Tolkien was most interested in languages, so that was his starting point.

If you want to create a world for an adventure, start with a small location. Describe in detail the things PCs will encounter directly, then go onto the things they will encounter indirectly (such as government etc). Expand geographically.

 

[Fenris-77]

I start with a concept, some core ideas about what the setting is supposed to do, usually indexed to what kind of game I want to run. This is the "what makes this setting unique or cool" step. Then I add factions and threats, as that's the interactions and opposition for the characters. Those two flow out of the concept. If I'm making a setting that's going to heavily feature exploration and ancient ruins I'll ask myself what kind of factions and threats would work well in that kind of game. The trick is avoid pointless work for you.

 

[Odysseus]

I think from a practical point of view.
Start with the short core concept. what you tell the players about the world they are in.
And then things they will ask or need to know when they start making characters.

 

[GlassJaw]

My advice on creating a setting is don't.

More specifically, don't create a setting just for the sake of it and without context. In my decades of gaming, I've learned that the success (re: fun) of a campaign, it's directly tied to how engaged the players are. And players are engaged when they are empowered to make meaningful choices, have agency to make those choices, and emotional attachment to their characters, NPCs, and world around them.

Those things are not created by how much detail you put into the setting. They are created by what the players interact with directly and have control over themselves. The history of the various nations and long lost kingdoms and tensions between countries across the continent don't matter to them at all, and that information does not make your next session enjoyable.

Now I'm not saying you shouldn't create that. But I wouldn't start there. The information you share with players when you start a campaign should literally be a 1-3 paragraphs, and that's pushing it.

My mantra these days is "create hooks, not plot," although I should expand that to "create hooks, not plot or setting". Start with something cool. Maybe it's a town with dark secret, or some factions that are at odds with each other, or an NPC with important information that has consequences. Flesh those out first. Then slowly plug them into the "setting". Expand outward from there.

I also borrow heavily from published material and make it my own. I love starting with cool maps. Look for adventures seeds everywhere. Take Saltmarsh for example: it has a cool town map, three factions each with their own motivations (5 if you include the lizardmen and sahuagin), a good starting adventure that results in multiple leads, a small wilderness region/sandbox that can be fleshed out, and some locations that can explored.

That is literally all you need. Again, beyond a couple of paragraphs (at most), the players don't need much more info than that. For Saltmarsh, I might tell the players that the town has long been a backwater fishing village and commonly known to be a haven for piracy. Long ignored by mainland rule, the crown has begun to turn clamp down on piracy and make Saltmatsh a respectable port. This has caused tension in the region to rise, as some are resentful of the crown's meddling.

Those few sentences tell the players that Saltmarsh has a long history and probably hides secrets. There is a larger world beyond, including a powerful kingdom that has interest in Saltmarsh. There are pirates and others that are opposed to the crown and others that want to see the pirates stopped. Boom, TONS of hooks and right off the bat, the gears in the players' heads will start turning about who's who when they meet NPCs and which side they are on.

Definitely give the players a strong hook right from the beginning to get the action moving but after that, you can use a combination of dropping hooks/rumors and letting the player's interests guide what you create next.

 

[Oofta]

Variations of this topic comes up on a regular enough basis that I'm just going to give you my standard reply, sorry for the long post!.

First, different people have different styles. What works for me (and the advice that follows) may not work for you.

I'm a lazy person. I don't do much more than what is absolutely necessary for preparation. So for me the basic prep steps include figuring out who's who, what creatures the PCs might encounter and setting and scenery.

Start Small
Even if your campaign starts out in a bustling metropolis, you only need a small amount of information. A list of people that are important in the daily lives of the young adventurers (which your players can, and should help with), a list of people that have direct influence over the area (whether king, magistrate or district council) and a list of people of which they may have heard vague rumors (the king of a large region, or neighboring countries).

But that list should be small, maybe a dozen, certainly less than 20. In addition, you only need vague descriptions and an outline of who these people are from the perspective of the adventurers. For the people that are in that tertiary list? They may not even know the name. Also see "Power Players" below.

Remember that historically, people lived their entire lives and were only really affected by a 20 mile radius of where they were born. I have a map of my entire world, but even though I've been DMing for a long, long time, probably 80% of the world just has some vague outline and a couple of lines of description on who and what lives there.

Set Dressing
Does your campaign take place in a metropolis or wilderness? Desert or Frozen north? Think about how to describe the locale. Buildings where there is a lot of snow will have steep roofs, buildings in a desert will often have flat roofs and tall ceilings (heat rises). Middle of a forest? A lot of the construction will be timber, whereas someplace with fewer trees may have more rock buildings.

What mix of races and cultures do you have? A bustling port city is going to feel different from an isolationist wilderness outpost. A city with a relatively high population of dwarves may have a preponderance of heavily built gray stone buildings with slate or copper roofs. It's a city built to last, with the beauty in the durability of the structures. A city influenced by elves will have more greenery, soaring architecture. Nothing is meant to last forever, so embrace graceful beauty while we can.

How prevalent is magic? Are the streets lit with continual flame lamps or is magic only whispered about in dark corners?

Who are the power players in the region.
A band of orcs in the area? They've probably been raiding local villages.
I'll want some kind of town leader I can go to, that can reward/motivate the players.
Maybe someone in the village is secretly helping the orcs. I jot a note down about this but don't worry about it too much. If it sounds appropriate when we're playing I'll throw it in.
Do the orcs have a leader that stands out from the crowd? I don't need one but if I have a fun idea I go with it. Think of LOTR or The Hobbit movies with their mass of generic orcs and a handful of orcs with highly distinctive look and feel.
Do the orcs answer to anyone? This can be left vague for the moment - maybe a symbol of a black star is prominent. I don't really care about the black star other than as a possible hook for future development.
Are there any other conflicting groups? Perhaps a group of ogres is demanding payment from the orcs, making them more daring/reckless than usual.

I generally limit power players to 2-5 in any given area, more than that and it gets too complex. It can be as simple as good guys vs bad, or complex court intrigue. But even if it's the latter, there are less than half a dozen power centers with some individuals that may have conflicting loyalties (there may be sub factions that I can expand on later).

Where is this happening?
Once again, I only do what I need. I have a rough map of the area, but honestly rarely map out details of city streets or buildings. Instead I think about what type of area I have (wilderness, city, temparate or desert) and jot down some notes.
If my adventure is set near a small village with some nearby ruins, I will have an idea of where things are and may or may not have some things sketched out. I frequently describe things at this stage as what do the PCs know? Most people only know their local area and only have a vague idea of anything outside of 20 miles away from home.

What events are in play
Largely based on the power players and their motivations, this is also kept at a high level. I know in my scenario that there has been low-level warfare going on between orcs and humans. That if nothing is done, it may erupt into full fledged war (and may end in war no matter what).

There may be other things in play however. A local kingdom may be pressuring the local villages into becoming vassals. There are rumors that they are secretly paying the orcs to raid villages to put pressure on them to accept protection. Is it true? Heck if I know.

Or maybe the orcs are fleeing the hills because there's some dark power rising that they cannot fight. The organization behind the black star could become an unwilling ally in the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" type of way. If that happens, there will be a great deal of conflict between the various factions who support the idea versus those that will never willingly ally themselves with orcish brutes.

Dangling Plot Lines
I like to end my session with a summary of where the PCs are, and options of which direction to go next. Do they investigate the orcs, or try to track down the rumors of the dark power and let the local militia take care of the orcs? Do they want to investigate what's going on with Felicia the Mad, who I just threw in as a random NPC?

Listen to what your characters seem interested in, what they talk about during the game. They can inadverantly give you some good ideas.

Random Lists
I rely heavily on improvisation with the aid of a few lists. What kind of lists? Do a google search for "random ____ name" for taverns, people, items, you name it. One site for example is behind the name for when I want somewhat realistic names based on real world cultures. I have a cheat sheet that I can refer to, so if someone wants to talk to the orc guard I can give it a name other than "Grog". I then make a note on my cheat sheet that the group interacted with "Yolmar, Son of Furbog", and that Furbog may be upset that they killed his boy.

You can also get character descriptions, motivations and so on. There are tavern generators for example that will give you a menu. Play around, find one you like. Generate a handful of entries for whatever you think you may need.

 

[robus]

While I absolutely agree with starting small I think it's also useful to think about tiers of detail.

The tier with the most detail is your starting area. The border town, coastal village, dungeon (if you're starting in medias res). And then working out from there what's roughly in the surrounding area. Major towns nearby. What's the name of the region/country you're starting in (don't need to know the ruler, but at least know the name of it ). Then what are the surrounding countries on this continent. And then what are the other continents on this world. No need for any history, just the major geographic elements.

When I was creating a setting, I immediately got tripped up by the players wanting to know what other languages they knew. (I didn't want to just go with Elvish, Dwarvish etc as then my setting just devolves into a generic mess. But if I'd know some surrounding nations then I could have given them some interesting choices (and perhaps together we might have fleshed out some reason why they know that language, did they grow up there? Spent time soldiering or studying?)

Anyway. I like the tiered approach:

Tier 1: The local environs - Important NPCs, adventuring locations and local village.
Tier 2: The region - major towns and name of the region. Geographic features: Mountain ranges, rivers
Tier 3: The continent - names adjacent regions/nations and some climate info: Frozen South, Tropical North, Temperate East, Desert West.
Tier 4: The world - names of other continents and the world itself (at least as it's known to the locals).

I love world maps so I start from Tier 4 with an unlabelled map of the world and drill down to the starting area working through the other tiers as I go. If some interesting historical tidbit springs to mind as I go, I'll note that but otherwise the history is left up to organic creation.

I think it's important for DMs to have a rough grasp of the world the adventure is in to serve as inspiration when you're reacting to player choices. It's just a couple of pages but much more useful than a blank page IMHO.

 

[Bupp]

Like others have stated...don't make anything that you don't need. Sure, I like to world build and create stuff, but most of it never sees the light of day.

I'm about to start a new campaign. I've collected some thoughts on note cards. General setting ideas. Some the players have access to. I started a map. A coastline, with the starting town. The rest is blank, and when I've shown it to the players, I've said " there are thick forests between the coastline and the mountains that rise in the distance. There's a maintain pass in this area, but giants won't let anyone through. There's another town over here..."

I have other ideas, but what interests me may not interest my players. I've thrown around some hooks. Once they start nibbling I'll know which ones to build on.

 

[Lanefan]

In my view the most important thing to start with is a map, covering enough area to be useful for a while into the campaign as the adventurers move beyond the immediately local area they start in (i.e. something considerably bigger than a single city or small island - doesn't have to be the whole world, though; but at least as big as a western-Canadian province). A vague idea of where this region is in the greater world e.g. equatorial, arctic, temperate, coastal, etc. is also useful; you've probably decided this before starting.

Everything then flows from that map. Your towns, your trade routes, your adventure sites, some history, your types of inhabitants (both PC and monster) and where they live, your culture, what your towns and villages will probably look like due to how they're built, and so on.

Detail some areas of the map, particularly around where the campaign will start*, but leave lots of generic blank space that you can add features to later as they become relevant and-or you think of them. For example, you can put a big mountain range to the east but you don't need to detail what lives there or where the passes are until-unless the PCs go there.

* - here I recommend a second, local map, in two versions: one for the players showing elements the PCs would have knowledge of, and another for you with info on it the players won't (yet) know.

Knowing your map and where things are allows you to seamlessly introduce and reference these elements during play as casually as if you're talking about your real-world area.

Once you've done your maps the other thing to at least take a quick look at is history - how did things get to be where and what they are now. I've learned that setting history is an excellent place from which to mine adventure and story ideas.

After that, bang out a few names (just the names) the PCs would obviously know e.g. the local ruler(s) and you're probably good to go.