D&D 5E Advice on Setting Creation

[QuestWise]

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.

I recommend many of the Kobold Press Guides, including:
Guide to Game Design 9781936781065
Plots and Campaigns 9781936781621
Guide to Magic 9781936781287

 

[aco175]

I find it depends on how much time you have that is not gaming time. If you have only 2-4 hours a week between gaming, you should run a modified module. If you have 6-8 hours then you can make adventures in a published world. If you have 10+, then you have time to make adventures and spend some time fleshing out parts of your world with building.

You also need to focus on the parts of the world that make it unique and that the PCs will interact with. You do not need to worry with the end game if you are on the 2nd night. You may have a great idea for gods and such, but it may need to wait until later if your players do not need it right now. It might never come up in this campaign. These are the things you get to work on when you are done with next weeks game, plus one more encounter.

My favorite bit for world building is to always plan a secret for each part of the world you make. Make a NPC- have a secret or two. Make a town- have a secret or two. Etc...

 

[Slit518]

@Ramlatus , I have a video series where I talk about making your own setting. If you're interested, and since you may have much time, take a look at them.

Setting Creation videos

 

[Lanefan]

My favorite bit for world building is to always plan a secret for each part of the world you make. Make a NPC- have a secret or two. Make a town- have a secret or two. Etc...

This is brilliant!

Too late for my current setting, but for the next one....

 

[TheCosmicKid]

The absolute last thing you want is to come up with some neat element later (e.g. the gods' influence on the northern volcano) and then have to retcon that yes the PCs would have heard about this two years ago when they specifically asked about what's of interest up north.

You're never going to come up with all your good ideas in one go. Tolkien built Middle-Earth over decades, and didn't hesitate to change stuff he had previously established for himself. So rather than try to plan everything out in advance and then feel like you're handcuffed to that plan, I would recommend a flexible approach.

Lanefan is right that you should try to avoid contradicting information that has been established to your players, so keep track of what you've told them -- that's the canon. But anything that only exists in your notes is fair game. In my experience there's a lot of wiggle room in what the players haven't asked about and you haven't revealed.

And if you have revealed something to the players but come up with a better idea later, don't sweat it. Put it somewhere else, or save it for your next campaign. Your players are never going to know about the super-amazing thing they missed out on; they only know what they actually got, which they probably enjoyed just fine. So don't feel the need to retcon; don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

 

[Fenris-77]

I like lists too, a lot. I have lists of NPCs, lists of names, lists of factions, lists of flavor stuff, lists of hooks, lists of secrets, lists of shops and inns, and so on. This makes it way easier to populate a location on the fly. I don't want to have to plan everything in excruciating detail, so sometimes the town will just have some essentially blank locations and NPCs that I'll flesh out on the fly if needed. No point in fleshing out the grumpy old armorer who's a veteran of the Troll Wars and has a soft spot for pastries if the party never goes into his shop.

You can't do this with everything, but you can do it with most things that aren't core locations and NPCs.

 

[Ramlatus]

Thanks you all for your advice and guidance. I have been making a lot of progress in the last 24 hours. I am laid off and stuck at home due to this Covid-19. I hope all of you stay safe, stay healthy.

 

[aco175]

This is brilliant!

Too late for my current setting, but for the next one....

Thanks, I stole it from a series of 3e Dragon Magazine articles called Dungeoncraft. There was a step by step on building campaigns and worlds.