Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Let's Talk About RPG Worldbuilding
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Fenris-77" data-source="post: 8329896" data-attributes="member: 6993955"><p>IMO, world building is way easier than people think, so long as they take a design approach. If you're going to build a world instead of taking one that's published, that means you want some thing different. Let's call that X, whatever the heck it is. Maybe you have a handful of things, call them X, Y, and Z that you want to be different, or specific, whatever. The point is that there needs to be a <em>reason</em> for the difference, there needs to be some way in which the actual games you run will be different, or more specific, in some kind of measurable or evocative way. In my case this usually has to so with narrowing the focus of play, I want a specific kind of game with a specific kind of feel. Either way, you need to identify that difference.</p><p></p><p>The design process would suggest that you start with these new, or different elements, and then ask what does each of these <em>require</em> in order to make sense and to function as I want? From there, you zoom out a little and ask that same question again, what does this setting <em>require</em> to do what I want it to? Once you have your requirements, which can vary in scope dramatically, then you can shade in the rest of the setting with whatever colour and shade you like that will be familiar to the players and not require them to lift to much cognitive load.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fenris-77, post: 8329896, member: 6993955"] IMO, world building is way easier than people think, so long as they take a design approach. If you're going to build a world instead of taking one that's published, that means you want some thing different. Let's call that X, whatever the heck it is. Maybe you have a handful of things, call them X, Y, and Z that you want to be different, or specific, whatever. The point is that there needs to be a [I]reason[/I] for the difference, there needs to be some way in which the actual games you run will be different, or more specific, in some kind of measurable or evocative way. In my case this usually has to so with narrowing the focus of play, I want a specific kind of game with a specific kind of feel. Either way, you need to identify that difference. The design process would suggest that you start with these new, or different elements, and then ask what does each of these [I]require[/I] in order to make sense and to function as I want? From there, you zoom out a little and ask that same question again, what does this setting [I]require[/I] to do what I want it to? Once you have your requirements, which can vary in scope dramatically, then you can shade in the rest of the setting with whatever colour and shade you like that will be familiar to the players and not require them to lift to much cognitive load. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Let's Talk About RPG Worldbuilding
Top