Creating your own world.

I meant more along the lines of you characters choices as in a cleric choosing his/her domains and such. Sandbox is a great idea but it also a bit a of a myth for players. because there will, One way or the other come a time when you have to guide your players. The sandbox is usually a blissfuly irgnorant kinda thing, players are like oh yay I can do anything. But as the DM your still gonna be like ....no your doing what I want you just think otherwise. My games tend to be 50 percent sandbox and 50 orginzed. But hey, to each there own, really. If it works for you, run with it. I've run my fair share of games on the fly and it's about a 50/50 good thing bad thing. But either way. So long as you and your players are having a great time. It doesnt really matter. If a game is fun, thats all that really matters. I've played with DM who have flow charts and piles of orginized notes and such, and DM's who have s scrap peice of paper and a battle mat. Eithre way, im good to go. As for the Paradox. Why does 2 + 2 = 4 ?
 

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Steal!

I use earth geography for my world, then modified by magical world events (that desecration spell cast a thousand years ago) or my own whim.

I use a pantheon of gods stolen from a published product 20 years ago (now renamed, with aspects altered and many new gods/lesser gods/saints added in as needed.

I "borrow" towns, cities, inns, etc... from other products, and then throw in my own color as needed.

I create the timeline, history, etc... of each region, as affected by the modules I intend to run, the history of other regions, the actions of previous campaigns, and more. It is amazingly fun to try to decide how to fit the Dungeon-a-day campaign into my setting a few hundred miles west of the previous campaign center, and then add Kingmaker elements to the same region, giving my PCs a chance to substantially change how that part of the world will develop.
 

Lol, anytime someones answer to something sarts with "Steal!" You know your in for a good time. Other than the Earths geography thing I do the same thing pretty much. It's very satisfying to see a low level charcter eventually crawl his way to epic and "take the crown" I love starting low level games and building up to epic. You get such a wonderful character build out of it.
 

I say, create a little bit at a time. Start small and only grow in the direction dictated by the campaign. For most stuff, create the broad strokes (If the PCs go this way, I'll probably do this, this, and this) but never put time into detailing anything unless the players and good and hooked into going that direction. Always save unsued detailed stuff--that cavern to the east can be the basement to the keep in the north. Make the world seem wide open and a living enviroment with your description and background information.

The devil is in the details, but don't waste time creating details that you won't use.

Details I'm using in my campaign, set in Conan's Hyborian Age, can be viewed HERE Notice how just the town is created but I've got an extensive background to make the world seem real.

As other towns or peoples are needed, I'll create them as needed.
 

Sandbox is a great idea but it also a bit a of a myth for players.

Agreed. Though I never said it the best one can hope for is ever reachable.

But either way. So long as you and your players are having a great time. It doesnt really matter. If a game is fun, thats all that really matters.

YES! That's what I'm trying to say, here. Myths and Gods aren't important in everyone's game, only fun.

As for the Paradox. Why does 2 + 2 = 4 ?

Mathematicians are funny, aren't they? The less complicated something is, the more complicated it becomes to universally prove it. Even trying to understand the proof behind the fundamental theorem of arithmetic tends to require some exposure to discrete mathematics.
 


As for the Paradox. Why does 2 + 2 = 4 ?

Because the DM says. 'Nuff said.

I'm in the 'Steal!' camp. I'm also in the "scrap paper" camp (though no battle grid).
Quite frankly, I make up nearly everything on the fly. I draw on the books I've read, the worlds I've gamed in or used in the past. I even draw on contemporary culture for creatures.
The most successful world I created was completely on the fly. The DM called one of the players and said he was quitting. Nobody in the group wanted to DM and I was itching to do so. So while characters were being rolled, I stole from the Dragonlance saga, The Book(s) of Lost Swords, and from previous DMs.
If you're good at that thing, the advantage is that you can create a world suited to your characters: their strengths and weaknesses. The disadvantage is that you run the risk of forgetting things, and creating paradoxes. For example, I intentionally had a river running from the ocean. It ran eastward from the west coast. Unfortunately, I had it run westward from the east coast. Oops!
 

Yup having fun is all that matters. If a game isnt fun or people are grouchy and hate what happened, its like. well. IM OUT. lol. Yeah simple answers rock. there are the most profound. :)
 

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