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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8819139" data-attributes="member: 2629">I have a huge world that exists, advances and lives outside the perceptions of my PCs.&nbsp; Here are a few reasons why:1.) Long Lived Setting: My setting has been around for about 40 years.&nbsp; It has seen hundreds of campaigns, adventures and one shots.&nbsp; Each contributes to the lore, and I continue to build upon them.&nbsp; Further, the world has a built in 'reset' button that takes it back in time to the same critical point where new sets of PCs get a chance to make a difference.&nbsp; As such, I've had plenty of opportunities to flesh out the options that spring from the events of this time, exploring them in different ways each time - the majority of the work was done long ago and lives inside me.2.) Immersion: There is a huge difference between a DM creating a world on the fly and players exploring a world that is well thought out.&nbsp; The well designed world makes sense and allows the players to lose themselves in the experience.&nbsp; When they encounter something that does not make sense in a well thought out world, the response is, &quot;Is this a clue that I need to look into?&quot; rather than &quot;Lol.&nbsp; That's stupid.&nbsp; The DM screwed up again.&quot;&nbsp; You have more options to tell more diverse stories when the PCs begin to care about NPCs, when the PCs start to set goals outside of 'level up and gather treasure', and when they get more excited about the resolution of the story beat than they are about what treasure the big bad had.&nbsp; 3.) Personal satisfaction: My world has been alive for 40 years.&nbsp; I have NPCs that I enjoy playing.&nbsp; It is wonderful for me when a new group of PCs finally run into them.&nbsp; I enjoy seeing the PCs knock down the toy buildings I create, I enjoy seeing them twist the stories in ways I did not expect and I enjoy seeing how that plays out across the storylines in ways they might not have been able to predict.&nbsp; I have puzzles that have existed for 40 years and never been solved - and others that have been solved recently for the first time.&nbsp; When those puzzles were solved the puzzles enjoyed resolving an adventure, but I was watching the conclusion of a sage far greater than they knew that had been obsessed over decades earlier.&nbsp; For one of them, I emailed the obsessive player that last played with me 15 years ago ane relayed the story of how it played out.&nbsp; It felt like we stepped back in time during that chat.&nbsp; The cliche is, &quot;You get back what you put in ...&quot; and I've put 40 years into the setting. It gives back so much, so often.&nbsp; I'm super excited about where one of my current groups is because they're on the cusp of discovering a lot of interesting information and really kicking off some very fun storylines.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 8819139, member: 2629"] I have a huge world that exists, advances and lives outside the perceptions of my PCs. Here are a few reasons why: 1.) [B]Long Lived Setting: [/B]My setting has been around for about 40 years. It has seen hundreds of campaigns, adventures and one shots. Each contributes to the lore, and I continue to build upon them. Further, the world has a built in 'reset' button that takes it back in time to the same critical point where new sets of PCs get a chance to make a difference. As such, I've had plenty of opportunities to flesh out the options that spring from the events of this time, exploring them in different ways each time - the majority of the work was done long ago and lives inside me. 2.) [B]Immersion: [/B]There is a huge difference between a DM creating a world on the fly and players exploring a world that is well thought out. The well designed world makes sense and allows the players to lose themselves in the experience. When they encounter something that does not make sense in a well thought out world, the response is, "Is this a clue that I need to look into?" rather than "Lol. That's stupid. The DM screwed up again." You have more options to tell more diverse stories when the PCs begin to care about NPCs, when the PCs start to set goals outside of 'level up and gather treasure', and when they get more excited about the resolution of the story beat than they are about what treasure the big bad had. 3.) [B]Personal satisfaction: [/B]My world has been alive for 40 years. I have NPCs that I enjoy playing. It is wonderful for me when a new group of PCs finally run into them. I enjoy seeing the PCs knock down the toy buildings I create, I enjoy seeing them twist the stories in ways I did not expect and I enjoy seeing how that plays out across the storylines in ways they might not have been able to predict. I have puzzles that have existed for 40 years and never been solved - and others that have been solved recently for the first time. When those puzzles were solved the puzzles enjoyed resolving an adventure, but I was watching the conclusion of a sage far greater than they knew that had been obsessed over decades earlier. For one of them, I emailed the obsessive player that last played with me 15 years ago ane relayed the story of how it played out. It felt like we stepped back in time during that chat. The cliche is, "You get back what you put in ..." and I've put 40 years into the setting. It gives back so much, so often. I'm super excited about where one of my current groups is because they're on the cusp of discovering a lot of interesting information and really kicking off some very fun storylines. [/QUOTE]

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