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<blockquote data-quote="francisca" data-source="post: 725335" data-attributes="member: 9734">I did a survey of the players in my current group before we started playing.&nbsp; The survey asked about rules system, genre, general feel (high/low magic for fantasy, campy/serious for Sci-Fi), type (Hack-n-Slash, problem solving, etc...), and whether to use a pre-fab or homebrew world.We settled on 3E, medium-low magic, homebrew.&nbsp; During the discussion, I got the feel that they wanted a setting with some over-arching direction, but not being led by the nose, and mixture of hack-n-slash and mystery.The first thing I did was draw up a document for myself.&nbsp;&nbsp; I wrote up a 1 page history, with just the big events of the last 200 years. I jotted down overall characteristics of geographical areas, consisting of one or two line statements on environment, economics, power centers, general disposition of the populace, and quick thumnail sketches of at least 2 potential allies and 2 potential adversaries.&nbsp; I ended up with about 4 pages.&nbsp; This document serves as the backbone, and helps me keep the settign consistent.From that, I made up a page &quot;general knowledge&quot; doc for the players.&nbsp; Then we got together and rolled up characters.&nbsp; Afterwards, the players sent me a few ideas for each character, which I embellished and tweaked, giving each character a short history and background.&nbsp; I then gave each character a paragraph of specific information that the others would not know, and used those tidbits to generate about a dozen plot hooks.And that's about it.&nbsp; All of the world building comes out of push/pull between me and the players.&nbsp; I have a general idea of how the populace will interact with the PCs everywhere they go (for now, I'll need to expand the world soon), and I have the tools to keep it consistent.&nbsp; With the introduction of a few major events (a high-level cleric/wizard figured out necromancy and an invasion from a kingdom to the southwest), we've been cooking right along, and the players don't even realize they are providing half of the world info/flavor.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="francisca, post: 725335, member: 9734"] I did a survey of the players in my current group before we started playing. The survey asked about rules system, genre, general feel (high/low magic for fantasy, campy/serious for Sci-Fi), type (Hack-n-Slash, problem solving, etc...), and whether to use a pre-fab or homebrew world. We settled on 3E, medium-low magic, homebrew. During the discussion, I got the feel that they wanted a setting with some over-arching direction, but not being led by the nose, and mixture of hack-n-slash and mystery. The first thing I did was draw up a document for [I]myself.[/I] I wrote up a 1 page history, with just the big events of the last 200 years. I jotted down overall characteristics of geographical areas, consisting of one or two line statements on environment, economics, power centers, general disposition of the populace, and quick thumnail sketches of at least 2 potential allies and 2 potential adversaries. I ended up with about 4 pages. This document serves as the backbone, and helps me keep the settign consistent. From that, I made up a page "general knowledge" doc for the players. Then we got together and rolled up characters. Afterwards, the players sent me a few ideas for each character, which I embellished and tweaked, giving each character a short history and background. I then gave each character a paragraph of specific information that the others would not know, and used those tidbits to generate about a dozen plot hooks. And that's about it. All of the world building comes out of push/pull between me and the players. I have a general idea of how the populace will interact with the PCs everywhere they go (for now, I'll need to expand the world soon), and I have the tools to keep it consistent. With the introduction of a few major events (a high-level cleric/wizard figured out necromancy and an invasion from a kingdom to the southwest), we've been cooking right along, and the players don't even realize they are providing half of the world info/flavor. [/QUOTE]

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