Kichwas
Half-breed, still living despite WotC racism
Re: Uh...
Why yes they do.
There seem to be two divisions on this sort of subject:
People who make world by only figuring out what's there right before the PCs need to know it. This is the style that was used in well known worlds like Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms.
Then there's people who 'design' a world by answering core questions about it and using the answers they come up with to fill in details. This is the style used in most recently designed RPG worlds. For example Scarred Lands and Kalamar.
I fall in the second camp when I make a world. In many ways because I enjoy the world design more than the playing of the games.
Both anthropology and sociology / psychology where on the list of potential career choices for me when I was a kid. And I still keep my passion for thinking olong those lines.
I couldn't begin to design a world without first coming up with it's core paradigms. I start from there and then cycle down asking more and questions and using the answers from the higher up stages to answer each stage down below.
Till I reach a point like I am now with Fahla where I can plop the PCs down at any random point and instantly be able to fill out a scene full of people that are different in many ways from the scene they might get somewhere else. And be consistant about it such that the players get a sense of being in a world that lives without just revolving around their characters.
Which for me, is much of the goal of the whole exercise.
Worlds like Greyhawk and FR which are built around the exploits of the initial PCs to explore them are a very different angle and result in a very different kind of product. Though I can't say as I could describe it well as it's just too far from my own way of doing things. Though it is the most common approach in 'home grown' worlds.
Kamikaze Midget said:
Why yes they do.
There seem to be two divisions on this sort of subject:
People who make world by only figuring out what's there right before the PCs need to know it. This is the style that was used in well known worlds like Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms.
Then there's people who 'design' a world by answering core questions about it and using the answers they come up with to fill in details. This is the style used in most recently designed RPG worlds. For example Scarred Lands and Kalamar.
I fall in the second camp when I make a world. In many ways because I enjoy the world design more than the playing of the games.
Both anthropology and sociology / psychology where on the list of potential career choices for me when I was a kid. And I still keep my passion for thinking olong those lines.
I couldn't begin to design a world without first coming up with it's core paradigms. I start from there and then cycle down asking more and questions and using the answers from the higher up stages to answer each stage down below.
Till I reach a point like I am now with Fahla where I can plop the PCs down at any random point and instantly be able to fill out a scene full of people that are different in many ways from the scene they might get somewhere else. And be consistant about it such that the players get a sense of being in a world that lives without just revolving around their characters.
Which for me, is much of the goal of the whole exercise.
Worlds like Greyhawk and FR which are built around the exploits of the initial PCs to explore them are a very different angle and result in a very different kind of product. Though I can't say as I could describe it well as it's just too far from my own way of doing things. Though it is the most common approach in 'home grown' worlds.
