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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8547299" data-attributes="member: 2629">It isn't compiling/bringing together so much as initially organizing and then adding systemically.  If you start with a well organized core, then building onto it is pretty easy.  There is a lot of hunting to be done, sadly, because I have things in separate documents.  If it doesn't register on the main document, which does not include every little bit of information persent in the other documents, it can be a pain to remember the details of something that I vaguely remember setting up years earlier.  Having it in a single wiki would solve that issue, but every time I've decided to start moving it I've begun to realize how many hours it would take to do so, even if I use an automated approach, and how much 'clean up work it'd require.  The actual files are under lock and key, although I often summarize the publicly available info for a player when they build a PC from an existing location, or that worships a God.  The secrets should remain secret.  I gave a copy of the files to a friend that moved away to Texas - and they later 'used some of it for inspiration' (which is a polite way of saying, "Yeah, I never used it.").  I had another friend that moved away to Canada with no plan to ever return to my area ask for it and he really read it ... and then moved back to my area and wanted to rejoin my campaign world.  However, he knew all the secrets.  I brought him back in to the setting, and his in depth knowledge (which astounded me - the dude knew a lot of stuff I had totally forgotten about) was something I had to factor in to the storylines and characters he could play (I've since moved and only occasionally play with my old groups).  After those two incidents, I decided not to share further - preserving the mystery is the best approach.Further, I wouldn't want to rob someone of the fun I've had building this world.  I think that stock settings are great for inspiration, and are great ways to bring an experienced player into an existing group for test runs - but having your own world with depth and unique mysteries that only you know - until some PCs eventually uncover it - is a fun element that not all DMs get to experience.  For example, there is a secret organization in my world.  I remember the day I thought them up, why I thought they should exist, and how they'd function.  They evolved some over the years, and they influenced many games ... but it took 25 years before I ever spoke the name of the organization out loud to a player.  Three months later the group discovered a lot more about how the organization works, why it existed, etc...  That night, one of the players (who had played with me off and on over many years) and I sat down after the game and he worked out a lot of the ways in which this organization had influenced entire campaigns he had enjoyed, and which NPCs were actually agents of the organization.  It wasn't an 'in game' moment, but that evening was one of the best times I've had in D&D as I watched him puzzle out things from two decades of games.  It would have been much harder to have that evening if I'd just been running the Forgotten Realms since the Grey Box was released.  I've likely spent as much time world crafting as I have DMing for the setting - and I have a lot of fun doing both.I'm happy to share my tool set and techniques, and I've talked about the widely known lore of my world often - but I'd rather see people build their own world than copy my lore.</blockquote>

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