weem
First Post
Bottom-up world design – I am a believer!
For years now (10 or so) I have wanted to develop my own campaign setting within which I could run my D&D campaigns. The history, the important people, and places – all of these things I looked forward to detailing. There was one problem however. As much as I liked to think about those things, and develop them (in my mind) not much ever made it to paper and before long, I felt as though it simply would never happen.
With the release of 4e, I started up a new campaign using Mystara again (as I always have) and cursed myself (again) for not getting around to my own setting. I love Mystara, but wanted something of my own.
As the Mystara campaign was winding down, I decided to look into getting my setting done. The plan initially was to start the next campaign in (of course) Mystara, but as we neared the end of the campaign my resolve to do something different was growing. That’s when I ran into the bottom-up method of world development again.
I had seen this method before but never really thought it was for me. But this time, I finally came to the realization that you know what… I will never get this setting done if I don’t just start with what is needed and go from there, developing it on the fly as the campaign progressed.
The decision to go this route was hard for me to come to, but was one of the best things I have done both from a DM standpoint, and from a creative outlet aspect. It has made the DM-ing aspect much more entertaining and creative as we (DM/Player) are both playing roles in developing the world. There is an excitement for the unknown that I am getting to experience as well.
My setting (The Last Lands) has come alive in a way that was hard for me to imagine before playing in it. The flexibility of this approach is amazing and it lets me push my improvisation skills further – something I have felt I am pretty good at, but have wanted to perfect.
I want to share some examples…
City Development
“Port Winters”
At the end of game #2 the players prepared to depart by boat to a town north of them. I knew the name of the town (Port Winters) and that they had a large market at the pier… that was it.
When the players arrived, I was able to explore the city along with them. Their questions about the town prompted me to envision it and relate it to them, as well as to develop it in interesting ways around what they were doing, or what they might be looking for. This made the city feel much more alive and by the end of the session I went from having a name for the town, to having a vivid image in my mind of the place, including…
1) A long, “S” shaped main street sloping downhill through town to the harbor
2) A thieves guild there (The Murkers) are an incompetent group of wannabe killers and thugs which another guild seems to be trying to control or take over.
3) An armor merchant whose pride in his creations will lead to anger and violence when not appreciated.
4) A large, but decrepit manor near the water, long abandoned by its owners but now occupied by the Murkers as well as various squatters, and worse!
5) An ingenious group of beggars who offer themselves as guides and assistants to newcomers. They aren’t afraid to (fist) fight each other for potential clients either!
Race Development
“Tribal Dwarves” (or Hippie Dwarves as we call them)
Dwarves were a people who lived primarily on the coast, and traded across a small sea with Elves on the Southern Continent. When Humans came to the Last Lands, the Dwarves were pushed inland, and (back) into the mountains. Many remained however and can still be found on the coast, and in human settlements, while some preferred to stay back in the mountains.
I have described the Dwarves as stout little people, but focused more on trade and commerce than on stone craft, drinking and shouting in Scottish accents. The difference between some of them and Humans stops often times at their appearance.
When one of my players decided he would play a Dwarf, he relayed to me that his character was very spiritual – tribal in nature and was guided by the spirits of his people. This got me thinking that while at first it didn’t fit with my image of them (in the Last Lands) as a whole, I could definitely see a subset of them very focused on nature and the old ways as well as spirits of the past. And so, this subset was created and made a part of the setting – something I could not imagine happening (easily if at all) with any previous methods of world development I was attempting.
The point of all this is to simply share my experience with bottom-up method of world development, and I thought I would recommend it to anyone else feeling stumped, or unsure that your current method world development is getting you what you want.
What do you think of the bottom-up method for world development?
Is it for you, or not and why?
For years now (10 or so) I have wanted to develop my own campaign setting within which I could run my D&D campaigns. The history, the important people, and places – all of these things I looked forward to detailing. There was one problem however. As much as I liked to think about those things, and develop them (in my mind) not much ever made it to paper and before long, I felt as though it simply would never happen.
With the release of 4e, I started up a new campaign using Mystara again (as I always have) and cursed myself (again) for not getting around to my own setting. I love Mystara, but wanted something of my own.
As the Mystara campaign was winding down, I decided to look into getting my setting done. The plan initially was to start the next campaign in (of course) Mystara, but as we neared the end of the campaign my resolve to do something different was growing. That’s when I ran into the bottom-up method of world development again.
I had seen this method before but never really thought it was for me. But this time, I finally came to the realization that you know what… I will never get this setting done if I don’t just start with what is needed and go from there, developing it on the fly as the campaign progressed.
The decision to go this route was hard for me to come to, but was one of the best things I have done both from a DM standpoint, and from a creative outlet aspect. It has made the DM-ing aspect much more entertaining and creative as we (DM/Player) are both playing roles in developing the world. There is an excitement for the unknown that I am getting to experience as well.
My setting (The Last Lands) has come alive in a way that was hard for me to imagine before playing in it. The flexibility of this approach is amazing and it lets me push my improvisation skills further – something I have felt I am pretty good at, but have wanted to perfect.
I want to share some examples…
City Development
“Port Winters”
At the end of game #2 the players prepared to depart by boat to a town north of them. I knew the name of the town (Port Winters) and that they had a large market at the pier… that was it.
When the players arrived, I was able to explore the city along with them. Their questions about the town prompted me to envision it and relate it to them, as well as to develop it in interesting ways around what they were doing, or what they might be looking for. This made the city feel much more alive and by the end of the session I went from having a name for the town, to having a vivid image in my mind of the place, including…
1) A long, “S” shaped main street sloping downhill through town to the harbor
2) A thieves guild there (The Murkers) are an incompetent group of wannabe killers and thugs which another guild seems to be trying to control or take over.
3) An armor merchant whose pride in his creations will lead to anger and violence when not appreciated.
4) A large, but decrepit manor near the water, long abandoned by its owners but now occupied by the Murkers as well as various squatters, and worse!
5) An ingenious group of beggars who offer themselves as guides and assistants to newcomers. They aren’t afraid to (fist) fight each other for potential clients either!
Race Development
“Tribal Dwarves” (or Hippie Dwarves as we call them)
Dwarves were a people who lived primarily on the coast, and traded across a small sea with Elves on the Southern Continent. When Humans came to the Last Lands, the Dwarves were pushed inland, and (back) into the mountains. Many remained however and can still be found on the coast, and in human settlements, while some preferred to stay back in the mountains.
I have described the Dwarves as stout little people, but focused more on trade and commerce than on stone craft, drinking and shouting in Scottish accents. The difference between some of them and Humans stops often times at their appearance.
When one of my players decided he would play a Dwarf, he relayed to me that his character was very spiritual – tribal in nature and was guided by the spirits of his people. This got me thinking that while at first it didn’t fit with my image of them (in the Last Lands) as a whole, I could definitely see a subset of them very focused on nature and the old ways as well as spirits of the past. And so, this subset was created and made a part of the setting – something I could not imagine happening (easily if at all) with any previous methods of world development I was attempting.
The point of all this is to simply share my experience with bottom-up method of world development, and I thought I would recommend it to anyone else feeling stumped, or unsure that your current method world development is getting you what you want.
What do you think of the bottom-up method for world development?
Is it for you, or not and why?
