Ray Winnger's "Countrycraft" Article from Dragon #293

[FullTinCan]

The bottom-up method might work for a small campaign, or a one-shot – but Without creating a sufficiently large and detailed area how can you really know what the world is like – what people’s attitudes about foreigners, political situations, where giants are found and where it is rumored there are bandits, or what the common opinion of people of the north are like, etc…

My current idea for starting a new campaign is as follows:
I intend to create 3 to 5 situations (as defined by Ray) ahead of time. These situations will be the campaign's initial hooks. I will create about 2 to 4 "interested parties" in each of the situations. I will then disclose each of these situations to all of the players as well as their starting location. Then they can make their characters in response to these situations. Once the characters are created the campaign can begin in earnest. I assume that the characters will address at least one of these situations.

As long as I am reviewing "each situation" and determining what interested parties there might be, I believe that the campaign can take root and flourish.

The ultimate trick is to make sure that situations and responses to situations are recorded in a meaningful fashion.

 

[Savage Wombat]

I'd say it mostly relates to your players. My own experience is two-fold:

1) Building a world, not a story, can be fun, but it also causes the DM to create a lot of material that may not be used. Especially if this relates to PC write-ups. In various campaigns I've written kits, prestige classes, unique races and tons of role-playing notes that were completely disregarded by players who were not interested in creating a character tied into the campaign world in that fashion.

2) Some players, when given the choice to do whatever they want, don't do anything. If I don't give the PCs a plot, they stare at me and wait for something to happen. By contrast, the best campaign I ever ran was largely a plot on rails. But my players enjoyed being "along for the ride", and don't seem to mind if I set goals for them and then let them decide how to do it. ("Go get this magic sword!" "Yes, sir!")

So, I'd say that some DMs have incredibly motivated, proactive players who chafe at being handed a plot hook; the 7th rule is for them. Some DMs don't, however.