How do you make a campaign world come to life?
- Thread starter Stormonu
- Start date
Raven Crowking
First Post
Stars Without Number is a sci fi rpg, which is free in its pdf format.
I would suggest picking up SWN, reading the worldbuilding chapter, and generating a sector. You will immediately notice how all of the details are based upon potential PC interactions -- the game is designed to generate cool interactions. These details, in turn, suggest other details to the creative mind, which then flesh out the setting.
Each world has two "world tags" that suggest, in turn, specific examples of friends, enemies, places, objects, and complications that arise due to the setting. Every setting should suggest these things at a very minimum, and SWN does an excellent job of showing how to generate them.
Now, ignore the sample sector. It's not as fleshed out as you want.
But think about how you can get across those PC-oriented details to the players without revealing the secrets behind them. And there, in a nutshell, is what you want -- consistent details that lead directly into the meat of the action. You can add as much extra detail as you want, but the core must always lead to the reader thinking how cool it will be to be/encounter/interact with the elements you are presenting.
If you think it would help, I could send you some sample setting material I am working on for a SWN game (pdf format). One part of this process, for me, was stealing evocative images from the InterWeb, and then using them to add detail. For a published setting, you cannot do this, but you could get some artwork developed, and then use it to spur further creativity.
Also, describe whatever should provoke strong emotion in the setting: What is desireable? Horrible? Frightning? Loved? Abhored? These things offer hooks the players (and GM) can hang their hats on!
Good luck!
RC
I would suggest picking up SWN, reading the worldbuilding chapter, and generating a sector. You will immediately notice how all of the details are based upon potential PC interactions -- the game is designed to generate cool interactions. These details, in turn, suggest other details to the creative mind, which then flesh out the setting.
Each world has two "world tags" that suggest, in turn, specific examples of friends, enemies, places, objects, and complications that arise due to the setting. Every setting should suggest these things at a very minimum, and SWN does an excellent job of showing how to generate them.
Now, ignore the sample sector. It's not as fleshed out as you want.
But think about how you can get across those PC-oriented details to the players without revealing the secrets behind them. And there, in a nutshell, is what you want -- consistent details that lead directly into the meat of the action. You can add as much extra detail as you want, but the core must always lead to the reader thinking how cool it will be to be/encounter/interact with the elements you are presenting.
If you think it would help, I could send you some sample setting material I am working on for a SWN game (pdf format). One part of this process, for me, was stealing evocative images from the InterWeb, and then using them to add detail. For a published setting, you cannot do this, but you could get some artwork developed, and then use it to spur further creativity.
Also, describe whatever should provoke strong emotion in the setting: What is desireable? Horrible? Frightning? Loved? Abhored? These things offer hooks the players (and GM) can hang their hats on!
Good luck!
RC
Quickleaf
Legend
Wow, Great advice so far! Sounds like there are some professional authors here 
The third writeup of the Crimson Empire resonated more for me because you cut out the "33rd scribe"'narrator - which just didn't fit - and you got to the core of your setting faster. However you also raise a question: what created the desert wastes and decimated swaths of civilization?
I agree with the Dune remark. that was the first thing I thought too, rather Dune under the Harkonen empire, which would be a magocracy rife with intrigue. My immediate thought was the main conflict would be Against this evil empire as rebels from within.
Your setting info around "clerics" and afterlife got me thinking... I really like the Joan of Arc / Rumi spin on people touched by a higher power. I almost expected you to introduce a new character archetype to the classic 4...an ancestral ghost warrior...or some kind of monastic who taps into the Akashic Record / Memory Palace of the great heroes.
Something tells me that the philosophy of eternity, the eternal return, Ouroborous, and the destiny vs fate questions of Near Eastern philosophy would be a good source for you to mine for inspiration.
And I'll echo the chorus about honing your core paragraph- the heart of your setting in under 500 words. I like to keep that core statement on a notecard by my computer when I write, to keep going back to it as a touchstone.
The third writeup of the Crimson Empire resonated more for me because you cut out the "33rd scribe"'narrator - which just didn't fit - and you got to the core of your setting faster. However you also raise a question: what created the desert wastes and decimated swaths of civilization?
I agree with the Dune remark. that was the first thing I thought too, rather Dune under the Harkonen empire, which would be a magocracy rife with intrigue. My immediate thought was the main conflict would be Against this evil empire as rebels from within.
Your setting info around "clerics" and afterlife got me thinking... I really like the Joan of Arc / Rumi spin on people touched by a higher power. I almost expected you to introduce a new character archetype to the classic 4...an ancestral ghost warrior...or some kind of monastic who taps into the Akashic Record / Memory Palace of the great heroes.
Something tells me that the philosophy of eternity, the eternal return, Ouroborous, and the destiny vs fate questions of Near Eastern philosophy would be a good source for you to mine for inspiration.
And I'll echo the chorus about honing your core paragraph- the heart of your setting in under 500 words. I like to keep that core statement on a notecard by my computer when I write, to keep going back to it as a touchstone.
Haltherrion
First Post
As in fiction, so in RPGs: show don't tell. In the case of the write-ups, you could try your hand at either true fiction or at least describing some aspect of the world in a more "show" manner, maybe a tale or tales that illustrate a few key aspects.
Aside from pre-game material, a few initial settings that clearly demonstrate what the world is about will really get the game going. Is the game or setting heavy on intrigue, session #1, involve them in intrigue, maybe just peripherally (they see a hand off of a note between two conspirators and have a chance to act on it), maybe more directly.
I'm a big believer in some pre-game material but in the end, you need to show it in game.
Aside from pre-game material, a few initial settings that clearly demonstrate what the world is about will really get the game going. Is the game or setting heavy on intrigue, session #1, involve them in intrigue, maybe just peripherally (they see a hand off of a note between two conspirators and have a chance to act on it), maybe more directly.
I'm a big believer in some pre-game material but in the end, you need to show it in game.
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