pointofyou
Hero
"The confines of play at the table" will vary from one GM at one table to another GM at another table. The GM and the players and the game rules will all work to define those confines.
D&D General Does a campaign world need to exist beyond what the characters interact with?
Uni-the-Unicorn!
Hero
Now that i think about it would be more fake to me if the DM had some wildly detailed setting that solely revolves around their ideas. Reality is not like that.
This is the way...
RuinousPowers
Hero
World building is a gift the GM gives himself. There is no need for a world to exist outside the player's perceptions, just like there doesn't have to be downtime between adventures or the need to explain why one week the adventure is underwater and the next is in the desert. In fact, in the early days it was never assumed that the players would be using the same characters from week to week.
cbwjm
Seb-wejem
I find the world feels a bit more alive knowing what's a bit further than the confines of the campaign area, adds some realism and I like finding out about the world. Currently in one campaign we are travelling around an island canpaign and one section is noted as the centre of an empire, we haven't been there in game, but my background was affected by it, we've interacted with agents from said empire, the politics of the free cities is influenced by it. I think it wouldn't have been as good if this empire didn't exist somewhere over the horizon.
That's not to say that everything on the world needs to be created and set up, but sometimes having outside forces that the PCs will (probably) never visit helps the campaign. For one shots, that's not so needed. Doesn't really matter what kingdom you're in if all you're doing is clearing a random dungeon in a session or 2.
That's not to say that everything on the world needs to be created and set up, but sometimes having outside forces that the PCs will (probably) never visit helps the campaign. For one shots, that's not so needed. Doesn't really matter what kingdom you're in if all you're doing is clearing a random dungeon in a session or 2.
Oofta
Legend
Reality is not like, what now? My reality revolves around what I do on a day-to-day basis, who I know, news and events that I learn about. I know it's a big world and, although our connection to the wider world is much more immediate than it was for previous generations, I assume people knew a bit about far off lands. Those ideas may have been wrong, but people have always known there was something outside their town or valley.
So to me it makes more sense that there's at least general ideas of what that bigger world is. That doesn't mean it has a big impact on the PCs, although it can, it's just that they know there's something else out there.
Bedrockgames
Legend
I think whatever you need works. Some people are fine with a quick sketch of information on a piece of paper with some rough maps sketched out as well, some need more detailed material for the world. I tend to like having a solid foundation to extrapolate upon. But it does depend on the type of campaign I am running
bedir than
Full Moon Storyteller
I'm in the both. There are broad strokes for the world, but the details only arise as they are important to the story. Those details can be created by the players and the DM
Uni-the-Unicorn!
Hero
My point was simply that the world is not dictated by the ideas and whims of one person.
I wasn’t saying anything about the players have knowledge of the wider world around them. Not sure where you got that idea
Man in the Funny Hat
Hero
A campaign world only needs to SEEM to exist beyond the direct experiences of the PC's. A DM has to first prepare the amount of the world they NEED, then they can put as much additional time and effort into the parts that they don't need.
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