Fleshing out your Homebrew

[Edgewood]

I have been revisiting the written material I have for my homebrew and have been pouring over maps, descriptions of people and places, and the general notes that arise from 10 years of play. When I was fleshing out certain areas for upcoming adventures, I naturally only focused on areas where the PCs were actually adventuring. I see now that I have a lot of holes to fill. My question to everyone is how much fleshing out of your homebrew do you do? Do you simply focus on the area the PCs are currently in? Do you write up notes on other areas that may not see the light of day? Are the notes complete or are they just a few ideas committed to paper?

Just curious to see how others handle this.

 

[SteelDraco]

The important bit of your setting is what actually sees the light of day, and gets used and interacted with. The players determine what's important, because that's what they actually see. You can have all kinds of other stuff, going on in the background, but most players aren't going to interact with it. IMO, it's usually unnecessary detail, and distracts from what's going on if you try and draw attention to it in a non-organic way. I mean, you might have this whole political scene you've established, but most players are just going to ask about which of the guys in funny hats is hiring them.

The important details, the ones I write down about my setting, are the ones that come up in play. Sure, you have to sketch out general ideas - These people live here, they act like this, this is your plot - but the players will ask the questions they care about the answers to. Personally, I prefer to make up these details on the spot, write them down, and make sure the answer is the same the next time someone asks the same question. Then again, I'm more comfortable making up details on the spot and remembering them later than I am trying to remember what I've already written. The temptation to try and get across stuff they don't need to know (and usually don't care about) is too strong, if I've already written it.

For example, for my current homebrew... I've got a map of the world, a map of the region the PCs start in, and a list of important people's names and businesses in the town they start in. Racial write-ups (in broad strokes), and some information on the nations around them... and that's it. Oh, and religions, about four or five paragraphs each. Maybe ten or fifteen pages, all told, and I think I've got a good enough handle on the world that I wouldn't be too worried about wherever they went in the setting.

 

[amethal]

Originally, the two important things about my homebrew were that it's a lifetime project, and that it's done for my benefit.

In other words, I add bits when inspiration strikes me, regardless of whether they have any impact on play. If I have a great idea for a swamp, I add it to my setting even though the players are currently in the desert and may never interact with it.

Similarly, if I'm all out of desert ideas, then the players unfortunately get a below average couple of sessions until the PCs leave the desert for a better prepared area.

However, the most important part of my homebrew is player involvement. For years I had no players at all (for geographical reasons, not because of the hubris of the three paragraphs above ) and my setting was stagnant and uninspiring.

As soon as the players got involved, it brought change to the setting. The status quo was upset, and I had to work out how the various power groups would react. Innocent thoughts from players ("I wonder if organisation x is just a front for organisation y") have led to whole swathes being re-written. Interactions with minor NPCs have set the tone for the officials throughout mighty empires. And all sorts of organisations have sprung into existence because the players wanted to join them.

 

[The Green Adam]

I take a rather unusual approach, as I've mentioned on and off throughout a number of recent discussions on worldbuilding. I mostly run Science Fiction campaigns and when doing so, I only create details on the area of the world the story will take place in. At the same time, I do generate basic elements of the planet as a whole so that my players can venture 'off the trail' without throwing me into a tailspin. The PCs homebase, be it a ship, nearby planet or what-have-you, is given a great deal of detail and attention since the players will be interacting with it most often.

When I play fantasy it's a very different story.

Since I only have one world to worry about, I develop considerably more detail on the milieu, from climate and weather to creatures, cultures and historical background. Instead of fleshed out adventure areas surrounded by a vague world beyond, I create a very detailed world with enough room to add in little elements later.

I tend to generate 'adventures' less often in my fantasy campaigns, prefering to set possible situations in motion and letting my players explore the world and its events as they wish. For example, I had a fairly detailed idea of my Elves, who they were, where they came from, why there are different sub-races/cultures and the like before we really started playing. During the first adventure where the players traveled many miles south from the captial to meet with the 'Lake People', I developed the names and general attitudes of the people and places the PCs needed to pass by and through.

One way of doing this is to constantly generate material. While designing next session's mission where the players are assisting the Dwarves of the northeastern mountain range with a tunnel collaspe, I make some side notes on the southwestern port island. Anytime an idea comes to me on how to add elements to flesh out my world, I jot it down and detail it further when I get the chance.

AD

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

I develop my setting on two fronts. First, and most important, are the details I come up with during play as the players interact with the setting. That's the organic part. I also sit down with each book I have and decide what exists where, how and why. These details are pretty sparse and don't get developed further until the players interact with it. But, it's there in case the players get curious. For example, if player x wants his character to get into a prestige class, I can tell him about the organization behind it and who to talk to to get the ball rolling.

That system also makes getting new books that much more exciting because it gives me a chance to add new, nifty stuff to my world.

 

[The Green Adam]

First, and most important, are the details I come up with during play as the players interact with the setting. That's the organic part.

Likewise. This is an important part of the process that I neglected to mention. It is the players and the concepts they create for their characters that fill in many of the details in the setting and inspire me to further develop one area faster and further then another.

 

[Gilladian]

I guess I'm like a lot of DM's here - I develop things that affect the adventure on the spur of the moment, but I spend a LOT of time creating detailed descriptions of regions, countries, cultures and etc... that may never see game time.

Both give me a lot of pleasure. And often they work together to create a synergy in play. For example, I know that the local Baron's evil wizard is trying to corrupt the Baron. I decided he's a member of an evil organization trying to seize power. But I don't know anything about the organization.

Last week in play, the PCs ran into a random encounter that I decided to make memorable. The forest spiders were working for an aranea; she's not particularly evil, and the PCs talked briefly with her and decided to leave well enough alone. She was pleased with their politeness and dropped a hint to them that there is evil in their community. They were baffled by her remark NOW, but later they may come back to it or even revisit her for more information. I'm going to write her up as a foe to the Wizard's group - possibly even give her an alliance of her own.

In fact, it'd be fun if the PC Druid would form a bond with her and perhaps encourage her to join the druidic circle.

So game world details spun back to greater adventure details that can form more world information later.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I detail the starting area, sketch out the surrounding area and have only loose notes about areas beyond that. As they move around the world (or the world moves to them), various other areas come into more focus. I try to keep it loose enough so that I can add some brilliant new idea later, while giving them enough of a framework that players can actually interact with the world in a proactive way.

 

[Zendragon]

I have the major starting area fleshed out pretty well. Names of important NPC's, leaders, guilds and such. With the current campaign we have a couple of rpg newbies, so I wanted to get them exposed to several areas of the world. A desert, a swamp, big city, ruined tower, and other fantasy staples. I have dots on the world map where these are located, but I don't have every village along the way mapped out. This leaved enough room to explore if the characters get off track, or something happens that takes them in a different direction if they need to chase down a baddy that got away. I love the detailed background info and most of it the players will never see. As new areas are coming up, I will spend time detailing the area a few weeks before I think we will get to that area. It keeps me from getting burned out trying to build a complete world before the first session.

 

[jdrakeh]

Well, I used to be a huge detail whore, fleshing out every nook and cranny of a homebrew setting that I could. This frequently lead to burnout, frustration, and lack of free time to actually play games. So I think I'm going to try a different approach. . .

I coudl be wrong, though from reading the ad copy, it looks like a book that I recently ordered takes the concept of 'templates' and applies them to worldbuilding while incorporating character creation options based on culture/social systems.

All of that sounds very cool and I look forward to giving it a go. Even if it's not perfect, I figure that it will allow me to build several unique, detailed, worlds more quickly than fleshing out every single detail on my own.