IS Gary Gygax's World Builder Hardcover any good?
- Thread starter blackshirt5
- Start date
blackshirt5
First Post
Yeah it's funny, we have almost a full crew of gamers(all except the electrician. Even the master carpenter/owner has D&D experience.)
blackshirt5
First Post
Hmmm. Naw, a man's apartment is his castle. As soon as I get one, I plan on making it into a gamers paradise. All the furniture I need: A bed, a round table, bookshelves, and kitchen appliances.
World Builder's Guidebook vs. World Builder
The first was published in 1996 by TSR Inc. the author one Rich Baker. The second by Troll Lord Games in 2003, written by one E. Gary Gygax.
The WBG is a set of guidelines for creating a D&D world. At least that's what you get unless you change a few things. The WB is an aid to fleshing out a world once you've got the basics established. You could use the WB as a supplement to the WBG if you like. I have seen the WBG for sale at my FLGS. You might be able to find a copy on the web.
For real world creation fun (assuming you can find a copy), add in Aria: Worlds from Last Unicorn Games. While it has its problems and is somewhat outdated, its still a fun way to create societies and cultures. BTW, where text and table conflict, follow the text.
The first was published in 1996 by TSR Inc. the author one Rich Baker. The second by Troll Lord Games in 2003, written by one E. Gary Gygax.
The WBG is a set of guidelines for creating a D&D world. At least that's what you get unless you change a few things. The WB is an aid to fleshing out a world once you've got the basics established. You could use the WB as a supplement to the WBG if you like. I have seen the WBG for sale at my FLGS. You might be able to find a copy on the web.
For real world creation fun (assuming you can find a copy), add in Aria: Worlds from Last Unicorn Games. While it has its problems and is somewhat outdated, its still a fun way to create societies and cultures. BTW, where text and table conflict, follow the text.
Last edited:
Nathal
Explorer
Moulin Rogue said:
Hello! I'm the co-author of the book and I hope nobody minds if I get up on the soapbox for a moment here. The authors and publishers felt that the title "World Builder" was appropriate because the book aids in detailing aspects of a fantasy world which span from the most niggling to some rather obscure facts. The book by Richard Baker, "The World Builder's Guidebook" by TSR dealt with the broader, macro-aspects of world design while the "World Builder" takes a bottom-up approach, and is more like a "descriptionary" than a guidebook. Gary Gygax's World Builder is not a guidebook but a brainstorming aid, and a reference work that saves a great deal of fact-finding, collating and collecting of information over time. It can aid in several ways, which I will list by each book (i.e. each chapter).
Book One: Stock-in-Trade details "stuff" common to the D&D world. The first section on armor and weapons is part visual guide and part glossary, with many illustrations by Dave Zenz. There are many books detailing weapons and armor, and this is not the sole focus of the book, obviously, but a logically required section. Next measurements and weights are listed, useful to the GM running on the fly (weights of goods, volume of things, container capacity, etc.). The Bazaar section lists goods, clothing with definitions (in great detail from common to ecclesiastical), different types of containers, handicraft objects, jewelry, medicines, musical instruments, saddle, tack & harness, common tools for burglars, thieves, etc. The section on taverns and transport give you everything anybody could ever need to detail exactly what the menu is at the local tavern or every conceivable type of transportation within a city (port city or otherwise), modes of transportation provided in dictionary format.
How this chapter is used: The armor and weapons section is a no-brainer. D20 stats are provided for those not covered in the existing PHB, but common ones are also drawn for the sake of consistency.
The section on measurements and weights are useful to GMs who love to consider such things when designing heists or spell effects on objects, etc. The Bazaar section allows GMs to prepare NPCs and encounter locales with "things" to place in accordance with a realistic touch. The sections on tavern goods and transport do more of the same...raw information people, and a damned lot of it.
Who needs this chapter? Admittedly, some DMs excel at this sort of Niggling detail. J.R.R. Tolkien would not have needed it, detail monger that he was. The DMs who can and would use this sort of material fall into the following categories:
a) Those who feel that the gathering of this sort of material is boring in of itself, pure drudgery, but fun to use as a quick aid in designing NPCs belongings.
b) DMs who love to create NPCs personalities and have many things happen in, say, taverns (just one example here) but do not have the talent for generating minutia that aids in creating an immersive environment....those who care to have quick responses to such simple questions as, "what's in that box?" Or, "how many weapons are in this armory and what kind?" Random charts are also provided for determination of such stuff.
book 2 Geographics. This chapter has tons of information for the "neophyte mapper" (and hey we were ALL a neophyte at some time or just need a refresher), has brainstorming lists on atmosphere, sky, and weather (descriptive elements and facts), rain & visibility, snow and visibility, ice strength in lbs, a realistic wind force scale (think Wind spell!), terrain types of all kinds detailed for aid in geographical elements of world design, including productivity of the land in terms of agriculture and husbandry. There's tons of information on gemstones (including magical properties), stones and rocks (from igneous to metamorphic defined for those who need to brush up), birth stones by Astrological signs, gemstones with corresponding D20 spell effects, HUGE lists of flora to detail the land for your players with a chart of trees by biome, max height and bole size (player asks, "is the tree wide enough for me to build a lean-to? DM knows the answer without bull
ting. Sorta fun to know those little facts, imo.). HUGE list of herbs by magical property, or poisonous, or "meaning" in a magical correspondence sense, D20 magical herb properties listed as examples (otherwise generic and adaptable to ANY system), flower types with seasons of bloom and color of petal. (Think about it: your quest is to find the a Bellflower of summer's bloom, that flower of pink flushed and white petals, for it is the favorite of the local dryad). Detail people, detail. Lots of information on the horse (types of horses and other useful info), and other fauna. book 3 Dwellings. What buildings are in this city? What type of city is it? What are those buildings constructed out of? What is the architectural style of those buildings? Door types, window types, materials (from wood to stone) & metals (including fantastic sort), all organized in a hierarchal fashion that allows for a broad to narrow scope where the DM can make every building in the city different, every tavern unique. Once the construction and design elements of each building are done (if such a scope of detail was desired) then there are lists to design the interiors: traps (random charts; brainstorming aid), decorations (ceiling to floor). The cost of construction is covered as well, including costs of construction per square foot. Every KIND of building is listed in dictionary format...anything from a wickiup, a penny-rent, abattoir, baiting pit, chandler, fletcher, etc...what is it? Look it up. The building types are listed by religious, commercial, governmental, etc. This makes the placement of buildings in a city or town (or hamlet) easy for the DM who wants to prepare locales for his game quickly. Interior rooms of all types are also listed with the most common things to be found within detailed...from torture chamber to wizards lab. Furnishings to divination objects. Sure, there are DMs who can pull this sort of detail out of his ass, but I was never one of them which is why I worked over a year on this project. To those who do not find a use for such an aid, I envy you.
The section on dwellings also including information on the populace: government types, royal offices, servants and staff (like Sergeant at arms or Valet), offices of religious institutions, occupations and persons (unusual names for such), lists of common entertainments...etc.
The book did not rely on random charts for reason of careful selection according to logic, but random charts are provided, and Jamis Buck helped me to create them! Random charts for determining weapons wielded (useful if the DM wants to create a quick little skirmish battle with lots of goblins or something), spell types generator (another brainstorm aid, not D20 specific...any game system), random room content charts (for filling dungeon rooms with things on the fly), and a human physical traits chart more massive than anything I've seen. Create an endless number of interesting looking humanoids...
Also included are a list of colors, information on light from a flame (lumens, reflectance, the light of a campfire or torch in terms of candlepower, etc), unusual or archaic names for things common to the medieval period (with definitions), and a HUGe chart of gemstones by color, named in order of relative value. Lastly, there is a list of crimes with definitions useful when considering local law.
To those of you who have DMed for many years and have all such information swarming in your heads and need no such aid, then I'd LOVE to play in your games because you probably rock! For those of you like myself who like to focus more on story and often balked at the little details, then this book is for you.
If at this point nobody can see how the book aids in world building then I am at a total loss to explain.
World Builder's
http://www.trolllord.com/id175.htm
There are two free .PDF downloads of WB material available there, too.
(Hi, Dan!)
http://www.trolllord.com/id175.htm
There are two free .PDF downloads of WB material available there, too.
(Hi, Dan!)
Last edited:
Troll Lords has two samples for download at their site.
Though I'm a fan of this sort of product and, ultimately, I like a lot of EGG's work, I wasn't entirely impressed by the samples. Giving me a description of a Knoll is only so useful when I have a dictionary at hand... at the end of the day, I found the content of the samples to be rather dull and lacking in actual useful suggestions on how to incorporate or use the material presented. At best, it is a reference, but based on the samples, I wouldn't call it a guide.
The Stronghold Builder's book, OTOH, ROCKS!
Though I'm a fan of this sort of product and, ultimately, I like a lot of EGG's work, I wasn't entirely impressed by the samples. Giving me a description of a Knoll is only so useful when I have a dictionary at hand... at the end of the day, I found the content of the samples to be rather dull and lacking in actual useful suggestions on how to incorporate or use the material presented. At best, it is a reference, but based on the samples, I wouldn't call it a guide.
The Stronghold Builder's book, OTOH, ROCKS!
Nathal
Explorer
Fourecks said:
I hope my outline above helps that problem for some.
But that itty biddy niggling detail is couched within a huge amount of such facts and descriptive lists. Certainly I would never dare attempt to replace the dictionary. I hope reading WB would spurn some to turn to the dictionary for further information, or an encyclopedia. The WB can be a good starting point, but this book is a reference, not a guide on the basics, and nobody ever claimed otherwise. The sheer volume of information between two covers, all at a glance, will be of value to some. You are the kind of veteran GM I expected not to buy the book, frankly. I bet the level of attention to detail in your games is astounding! I wish somebody like you had written a book like WB for ME years ago...*sigh*. Oh well, Gary and I had to do it.
What sort of suggestions are needed on how to incorporate a knoll? And who called it a guide? A brainstorming aid, a glossary of weapons and armor, a book of lists for the sake of description, some with definitions...a reference. It is not surprising that some sections, isolated from the whole work, would not make for exciting reading. This is not a book to read cover to cover but to use when sitting down to create a region of the world, a city, a dungeon, etc.
[/QUOTE]
Hey, great! The "World Builder's Guidebook" by Rich Baker was cool to, although detailed the sort of stuff that was quite OBVIOUS to DMs like myself. Some DMs will need a book like Rich Baker's, and some will want one like the one published by Troll Lord, but in the end, to each his own. As a matter of fact, what information in Rich Baker's book can't be found in any encyclopedia? Online at that! Yet people still liked having the information between two covers organized in such a way that it was immediately useful to them.
THE UTILITY OF THE WORLD BUILDER IS SUBJECTIVE, as with most supplements. The use of this reference work depends on the strengths of the Dungeon Master in question.
Last edited:
Similar Threads
