Homebrew Designing My First...Thing

[GothmogIV]

I have been playing--mostly GMing--ttrpgs since 1981. I've run and played numerous games: D&D (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th), Call of Cthulhu (2nd, 7th), Dragonbane, Castles&Crusades, and Dungeon Crawl Classics. I have run one shots, mini-campaigns, and full campaigns. I love running games! (I like being a player, too). In all my decades of gaming, I have never ever run something that has been completely made-up by me. I have always used a module (if you know that old, grognardy word) as the frame, then added, subtracted, changed, morphed, and adapted that material to meet my needs and desires as a GM. I have definitely created my own encounters and tangents, but...I've always used someone else's adventure as the bones on which my adventure depends.

There is nothing wrong or bad about this, but I've realized as I've gotten more experienced and knowledgeable about games that I would like to try doing something completely on my own, with no net (so to speak). It's a little bit nerve wracking, to be honest, and while I realize I am not completely open heart surgery or something, the thought that it's all coming from me is a bit...anxiety provoking.

So here's my thought, and feedback is most appreciated: I am going to create a small regional map with several adventure areas (that is, more detailed, playable parts like dungeons or locations). I will create a short history, a few factions, a lot of rumors, some random encounters, and see where that takes us. I'm using the idea of a 'pocket campaign' from Dungeon Crawl Classics, which is the game system I am going to use for this project. Once I have a good framework, I'm going to run it for the idiots friends I have been playing with for decades, and watch them destroy the beautiful piece of art that I have so carefully crafted!

What do you think, ENWorlders? I'd love to hear some thoughts.

 

[Andvari]

Sounds pretty standard GM fare to me.

 

[GothmogIV]

Not by me. At least, not up until now!

 

[GMMichael]

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Welcome to the endgame.

One thing I recommend before starting is to curate what you want in your setting. For D&D, I literally go through the Monster Manual and make notes on stuff I want the setting to include. Everything I don't list might exist somewhere off the edges of the map -- so never say never to including something if I have a great idea for it later -- but I narrow the focus to stuff I'm interested in, which also helps define what we're dealing with.

In D&D, that might mean (as it did for me) a setting with no orcs, but a focus on kobolds and goblins. No elves or halflings, but a focus on dwarves and gnomes. The only dragon -- a green -- has left the area shortly before the campaign began, but there's remnants of her rule around the area.

So my setting wasn't radically different than someone else's D&D setting, but it did feel distinct and had its own personality.

Once I had my curated list, I worked backwards to explain what was going on and why those elements were there, which meant I wasn't creating a lot of background material that was never used. (Although, like all DMs, some of the background stuff I created has just remained mysteries in the background that the players never fully explored, which happens.)

 

[Scribe]

One thing I recommend before starting is to curate what you want in your setting. For D&D, I literally go through the Monster Manual and make notes on stuff I want the setting to include. Everything I don't list might exist somewhere off the edges of the map -- so never say never to including something if I have a great idea for it later -- but I narrow the focus to stuff I'm interested in, which also helps define what we're dealing with.

Very much this!

 

[Reynard]

What do you think, ENWorlders? I'd love to hear some thoughts.

Don't be afraid to steal liberally. if you have an adventure or starting area or whatever from a published module you like, you can start with that. Reskin it and tweak it to make it yours. File off the serial numbers. Replace major NPCs with ones you made yourself or even stole from somewhere else. Mirror the map, or switch water and land (a classic tactic).

The point is, you do not have to start from scratch if you don't want to, or you find the blank page more intimidating than inspiring.

 

[sevenbastard]

I am going to create a small regional map with several adventure areas (that is, more detailed, playable parts like dungeons or locations). I will create a short history, a few factions, a lot of rumors, some random encounters, and see where that takes us.

This is how I start my sandbox campaigns with a clear understanding to players that they can do anything they want in the sandbox but im putting my effort into it so they cant leave.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

You've got some good advice here. I'll just add: Don't flesh it out too deeply - point form or vague ideas is plenty enough to go on, and you can get started faster, and you can let your players be more involved. Not necessarily by inventing stuff themselves, but by asking you questions that you can answer.

If you struggle to decide on an answer, a useful tool for that can be a "Yes/No" die. It can be any size, but I like a d10. It works something like this:

10 - Yes, and more than you're even thinking.
9 - Absolutely yes.
8 - Yes, sure.
7 - Yes, but maybe the specific details are a little different.
6 - Sort-of like that.
5 - Not quite, but maybe close.
4 - Not really, but maybe a detail in common with that.
3 - No.
2 - No, and not even really adjacent.
1 - No. Completely different from that.

For example, I once had a player ask if the town they were approaching had a "School or a library" where they could research spells. The town was just a name on a map, nestled in the mountains. I rolled a 10. I rolled a few more times (quickly asking other questions in my head that I don't remember details of) and I very quickly wound up with a University on a mountainside, where the whole town was designed around supporting the school, with nobles and the equivalent of coffee-shops where intellectuals gathered to debate philosophy, and a culture for dueling.

All in a few seconds from nothing.

Obviously, it takes practice to get good at using it, and you can reduce the gradient with a d6 or even a d2 if you like, but I find it helps (only use it when you don't know the answer - if you DO, just answer the question with what you know!)

 

[Tonguez]

I really like the Dungeon World Fronts as it gives an easy way to define your campaign tone and genre and let it grow from its set of Dangers and their Motivation rather than rigid plots. Dangers can be Factions (Organisations), Supernatural/Arcane Forces, Monsters or Cursed Places/Events and giving them clear impulses the world begins to move on its own, threats evolve whether the players intervene or not, and situations emerge naturally instead of being pre-scripted.

Grim Portents are an escalation tool that gives DMs a tool to move things along when needed and offers Players clear points to jump in to a given Front. It thus encourages improvisation and means that player choices matter to the World and how things develop.

DW Suggest that Campaigns be set up with 5 Fronts with 5 Dangers for each Front and 3-5 Grim Portents for Each Danger (that gives you 5 Fronts, 25 Dangers and 75 - 125 grim portents) in short form in maybe 20 minutes