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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 3065474" data-attributes="member: 11760">One of the simpler (and most fun) aspects of world-building seems to get lost nowadays: Pick up the Monster Manual and pick which monsters you want to be part of the initial campaign area. If you know, for instance, that there are no orcs around, but there are goblins and kobolds (one of my decisions), you instantly start coming up with ideas. Likewise, knowing that humans, gnomes and dwarves are the only player races in the initial area also helps shape what the setting looks like.The world already has enough kitchen sink settings -- go for one where you keep the stuff that YOU like the most and dump the stuff you don't. The setting will immediately start to look the way you want it to, and when you start extrapolating what the world is like based on those decisions, it'll instantly look different from the more "cosmopolitan" settings out there.And limiting the monsters doesn't mean removing them from the setting; this is just the "local area." You can always have monsters come in from the edges of the map if you decide you have a really good idea on how to use a stone giant, or whatever.Repeat with classes and planes. I dropped monks and all planes but the Plane of Shadow and Plane of Mirrors until a big world-changing thing happens in the campaign setting.</blockquote>