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<blockquote data-quote="Aristotle" data-source="post: 5874986" data-attributes="member: 5885">I've been lovingly crafting game worlds for more than two decades. I've absolutely built a world with con-langs, unique plant and animal life, and strange new cultures. Some of it was a success, all of it was fun, but here is the lesson I've learned in actual play.I think that you have to pick your battles. The basic, real world, biomes provide a common point of reference for the players. The game already assumes quite a bit of additional fantasy content. Adding to that can bring value, but you need to keep the additions relevant in some way.Players don't necessarily want to memorize a list of plants and rodents that, despite your beautifully rendered &quot;ecology of the ___&quot; handouts, are really not that different from what already exists in the real world. Stick to the things that provide the most campaign setting immersion, or are the most vital to the campaign. The big trees that house whole towns are immersive. The patches of grass that store water in melons wrapped up in their roots aren't really campaign vital, unless the campaign is water-poor and those melons are a valuable resource.I'm not saying you can't enjoy detailed world building, or even provide the details of your beautiful creation to individual players who express an interest. I do think you need to be ready to dumb things down and refer to &quot;massive evergreen trees&quot; or &quot;fields of tall grass&quot; rather than expect your players to all want to remember the names and details of each plant species.On a commercial level I don't see much need for a product that is just a bestiary of fantastic new vermin and plants. Adding smaller sections of such (keeping to the immersive/vital paradigm) to a larger product is very welcome though. It could just be a chapter in a campaign setting or a regional detail book, or a &quot;survival guide&quot; style product that details various terrains and how they are used in play.Yes. This coming from the guy who wrote the guides detailing the various campaign specific cat, dog, and horse breeds for his setting.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Aristotle, post: 5874986, member: 5885"] I've been lovingly crafting game worlds for more than two decades. I've absolutely built a world with con-langs, unique plant and animal life, and strange new cultures. Some of it was a success, all of it was fun, but here is the lesson I've learned in actual play. I think that you have to pick your battles. The basic, real world, biomes provide a common point of reference for the players. The game already assumes quite a bit of additional fantasy content. Adding to that can bring value, but you need to keep the additions relevant in some way. Players don't necessarily want to memorize a list of plants and rodents that, despite your beautifully rendered "ecology of the ___" handouts, are really not that different from what already exists in the real world. Stick to the things that provide the most campaign setting immersion, or are the most vital to the campaign. The big trees that house whole towns are immersive. The patches of grass that store water in melons wrapped up in their roots aren't really campaign vital, unless the campaign is water-poor and those melons are a valuable resource. I'm not saying you can't enjoy detailed world building, or even provide the details of your beautiful creation to individual players who express an interest. I do think you need to be ready to dumb things down and refer to "massive evergreen trees" or "fields of tall grass" rather than expect your players to all want to remember the names and details of each plant species. On a commercial level I don't see much need for a product that is just a bestiary of fantastic new vermin and plants. Adding smaller sections of such (keeping to the immersive/vital paradigm) to a larger product is very welcome though. It could just be a chapter in a campaign setting or a regional detail book, or a "survival guide" style product that details various terrains and how they are used in play. Yes. This coming from the guy who wrote the guides detailing the various campaign specific cat, dog, and horse breeds for his setting. [/QUOTE]

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