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<blockquote data-quote="Lonely Tylenol" data-source="post: 1608752" data-attributes="member: 18549">It's all in the hook...Unless you're trying to write another generic Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms, you have to have some concept that drives and motivates the design for the world.&nbsp; A previous hook was &quot;a world made of floating islands with no earth below.&quot;&nbsp; My current hook is &quot;dragons took over the world.&quot;&nbsp; Pretty simple to start with.&nbsp; The design method is to ask yourself questions.Where did the dragons come from?&nbsp; How did they take over?&nbsp; How long ago?&nbsp; Why couldn't they take over before that?&nbsp; How did society react?&nbsp; How does this race or that race fit into the grand scheme of things?&nbsp; How did geography affect the scenario?&nbsp; Etc.I always try to throw in a few odd things to add a signature feel to each world.&nbsp; In my current world, clerics don't exist, replaced by specialized classes called white mages and black mages, which are themselves specialized sorcerers dedicated to the gods.&nbsp; There are other changes, and this gives an interesting twist to the world that means that the players don't know what to expect going in, which is a key feature to a compelling world, IMHO.&nbsp; There's something new to discover and feel out, which means they can't just sit back and roll dice without paying attention.The map is important, but you're better off knowing what the map is supposed to hold first, and then figure out geographical and political details after you know what kinds of things you expect to find, in a broad sense.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lonely Tylenol, post: 1608752, member: 18549"] [b]It's all in the hook...[/b] Unless you're trying to write another generic Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms, you have to have some concept that drives and motivates the design for the world. A previous hook was "a world made of floating islands with no earth below." My current hook is "dragons took over the world." Pretty simple to start with. The design method is to ask yourself questions. Where did the dragons come from? How did they take over? How long ago? Why couldn't they take over before that? How did society react? How does this race or that race fit into the grand scheme of things? How did geography affect the scenario? Etc. I always try to throw in a few odd things to add a signature feel to each world. In my current world, clerics don't exist, replaced by specialized classes called white mages and black mages, which are themselves specialized sorcerers dedicated to the gods. There are other changes, and this gives an interesting twist to the world that means that the players don't know what to expect going in, which is a key feature to a compelling world, IMHO. There's something new to discover and feel out, which means they can't just sit back and roll dice without paying attention. The map is important, but you're better off knowing what the map is supposed to hold first, and then figure out geographical and political details after you know what kinds of things you expect to find, in a broad sense. [/QUOTE]

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