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Help with an Elven Kingdom in my Homebrew
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<blockquote data-quote="Gus L" data-source="post: 9436423" data-attributes="member: 7045072"><p>Seem like a lot of world building (demographics and such) for what is essentially a point on your map that the party will pass through. </p><p></p><p>Rather then start from "how many elves" and "who are their allies" and such it's often good to start with "What kind of adventure do I want to run here"? </p><p></p><p>If you want to run a dungeon crawl - you need to figure how a dungeon fits in ... how does it impede the PCs travel or tempt them to stop?</p><p></p><p>If you want to run a lair fight against some sort of powerful foe - where does that foe lair, and how will the party be enticed to confront it?</p><p></p><p>If you want social intrigue and drama - you need to figure out how the party will get pulled into that, what the rewards are, who their potential patrons they might find are and such.</p><p></p><p>All of this is more important to actually running an adventure then the detailed sort of world building you're doing. This isn't to say some worldbuilding is bad, but alone it is extremely insufficient when what you are trying to build is an adventure, not a world. It's far easier to tailor empty chunks of your setting to an adventure then vice - versa. Detail will arise naturally as you build the small and approachable part the players will actually interact with.</p><p></p><p>To do that try asking these questions:</p><p>"What are the tensions here?"</p><p>"Who are the sides here?"</p><p>"What's valuable to the PC's here?"</p><p>"What's dangerous here?"</p><p></p><p>If that seems to hard ... start with the basic aesthetic.</p><p>"What does this place look like"</p><p>"What's special and visually impressive here?"</p><p>etc.</p><p></p><p>If none of this helps go read some Wikipedia about some odd location or thing in the real world. I like starting with various wikipedia lists.</p><p></p><p>Here's a fun one... The List of Ruined Palaces:</p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ruined_palaces[/URL]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gus L, post: 9436423, member: 7045072"] Seem like a lot of world building (demographics and such) for what is essentially a point on your map that the party will pass through. Rather then start from "how many elves" and "who are their allies" and such it's often good to start with "What kind of adventure do I want to run here"? If you want to run a dungeon crawl - you need to figure how a dungeon fits in ... how does it impede the PCs travel or tempt them to stop? If you want to run a lair fight against some sort of powerful foe - where does that foe lair, and how will the party be enticed to confront it? If you want social intrigue and drama - you need to figure out how the party will get pulled into that, what the rewards are, who their potential patrons they might find are and such. All of this is more important to actually running an adventure then the detailed sort of world building you're doing. This isn't to say some worldbuilding is bad, but alone it is extremely insufficient when what you are trying to build is an adventure, not a world. It's far easier to tailor empty chunks of your setting to an adventure then vice - versa. Detail will arise naturally as you build the small and approachable part the players will actually interact with. To do that try asking these questions: "What are the tensions here?" "Who are the sides here?" "What's valuable to the PC's here?" "What's dangerous here?" If that seems to hard ... start with the basic aesthetic. "What does this place look like" "What's special and visually impressive here?" etc. If none of this helps go read some Wikipedia about some odd location or thing in the real world. I like starting with various wikipedia lists. Here's a fun one... The List of Ruined Palaces: [URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Ruined_palaces[/URL] [/QUOTE]
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