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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 9142936" data-attributes="member: 42582">To me, it seems that different sorts of things PCs do in a RPG might suggest different sorts of considerations when it comes to building a world for gameplay.These observations about incorporating a game system, and its mechanical elements, suggest a fantasy world, and also a game system which includes discrete "building blocks" of mechanical components that correlate pretty tightly with story elements. D&D spells, magic items and monsters were the examples that I thought of. I've gone through a comparable sort of process in setting design for Rolemaster - it doesn't quite have D&D classes, but it similarly has lists of spells, items and monsters.The apparent endorsement of "core gameplay loops of exploration and discovery", together with the language of discovery, again suggests a particular sort of RPGing.I've recently been reading T1 The Village of Hommlet fairly closely, because I've rewritten the Moathouse as a Torchbearer adventure. I would count this as an example of worldbuilding. There are some things it focuses on - eg the layout of the village, the arms; armour and valuable in each house; the religious affiliation of each household; - but not others - eg we are told that the farmer in Area 5 (Prosperous Farmhouse) is a widower of middle age, with 5 children, the eldest being two daughters, who is the brother of the farmer to the south in Area 1 (Prosperous Farm Cottage and Large Barn). We are told that this widower is dour and taciturn - but was he like this before his wife died? Does it affect his relationship with his brother (are they close? distant? how has this changed over time?)? What about with his daughters? And how do the daughters, or their brothers, get on with their six cousins in Area 1? Do these families, whose houses are 40 yards apart and separated only by a large barn, hold land in common, or do they farm separate plots?Looking at Area 10 (Well-Kept Dwelling With a Wooden Sign Showing a Bag of Wool and a Loom), we have "an elderly weaver and his wife, their daughter and her husband . . . [who] moved to the area only two years ago." Where did they come from? What does this tell us about social mobility and economic activity - especially as they also have "four young apprentice weavers, as business is very good". Where did the apprentices come from, and how does this affect the agricultural labour force?Depending how we conceive of the gameplay intended to take place in the world being built, it seems to me that a whole range of different considerations might apply.</blockquote>

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