LostSoul
Adventurer
Hey all;
In my game I'm preparing for the time when the PCs get out of the dungeon. The Wizard wants to build a tower for himself - he has a Quest for it - and I hope the other players are on board.
The first thing I did was to look at the map in the DMG (we're playing in the Nentir Vale). I identified all the different "encounter areas" - the Cairngorm Peaks, the Gardbury Down, etc. Then I sat down to write up a random encounter table for the one nearest to the PC's home base of Winterhaven.
As I started doing this, the first random encounter table I've built in over a decade, I realized I needed some kind of theme for the encounters. Who's here, what's going on, all that jazz. Typical worldbuilding stuff.
I base my encounter table off of that - there were Kobolds and Goblins working together in Keep on the Shadowfell, and I figure they had to come from somewhere, so they fill the bulk of the encounter table. But what's up with them?
As I build each encounter, I add some of the local flavour into it. What's going on in the Cairngorm Peaks, the different factions, what could be explored as a dungeon. This way I can reveal the world to the players through play, and none of the work I've done has been wasted; it's all meant to be used at the table. (Exploration as a backdrop for Gamist challenge.)
I know this is probably old hat to most of you out there, but it's been so long since I did anything like this I felt like I had to share.
In my game I'm preparing for the time when the PCs get out of the dungeon. The Wizard wants to build a tower for himself - he has a Quest for it - and I hope the other players are on board.
The first thing I did was to look at the map in the DMG (we're playing in the Nentir Vale). I identified all the different "encounter areas" - the Cairngorm Peaks, the Gardbury Down, etc. Then I sat down to write up a random encounter table for the one nearest to the PC's home base of Winterhaven.
As I started doing this, the first random encounter table I've built in over a decade, I realized I needed some kind of theme for the encounters. Who's here, what's going on, all that jazz. Typical worldbuilding stuff.
I base my encounter table off of that - there were Kobolds and Goblins working together in Keep on the Shadowfell, and I figure they had to come from somewhere, so they fill the bulk of the encounter table. But what's up with them?
As I build each encounter, I add some of the local flavour into it. What's going on in the Cairngorm Peaks, the different factions, what could be explored as a dungeon. This way I can reveal the world to the players through play, and none of the work I've done has been wasted; it's all meant to be used at the table. (Exploration as a backdrop for Gamist challenge.)
I know this is probably old hat to most of you out there, but it's been so long since I did anything like this I felt like I had to share.
