The history of your world

[pogre]

I have some fairly detailed history and numerous mythos concerning world and race origins. I don't bore my players with it, although it comes up occasionally in our games. I work harder at creating history and political situations that lead to plot hooks.

 

[Woas]

I use the First Rule of Dungeoncraft: Never force yourself to create more than you must.

So I often don't go into much detail about my game worlds. Like others have said and observed, my players too rarely took interest in any world history that I created when I would try to make a lot of it.

 

[the Jester]

Myths and legends should never be proveable. That's why my gods don't walk among mortals...

...in many campaigns.

 

[Hjorimir]

I create a framework history. Enough that I know why things are the way they are and how it all relates to the current campaign, while at the same time with enough room to allow for new ideas as they might hit me (often like a truck).

 

[LostSoul]

Have you developed a detailed world creation for your world?
Do you know how everything came to be - the origins of all the races? Or do you care?
Do your players know this origin? How much of it do they know?

In the last campaign world I created and ran, I started with the "bottom up" method. I didn't really have much of an idea to begin with, except that it would be vaguely "historic" (as in Earth).

Later on, when my tastes changed (as they will do over 10+ years), I added in some mythology and came up with most of the history. Fleshed it out according to my new desires.

The PCs didn't know much at all about the history, and they didn't care, since we were at the "local town" level still. When the campaign ended (for the 2nd time ), they were beginning to learn things - only because they were relevant to the adventures at hand, not because they went a lookin'.

 

[Gold Roger]

For my current homebrew, Sealon, there actually is no sense to answering these questions.

However, I'll answer for the homebrew I'm working on right now(players of mine shut skip this stuff):

Have you developed a detailed world creation for your world?

Yepp. It's actually the biggest secret of the homebrew, known only to true Demons, the eldest of the true Demons, some other truly ancient beings and maybe the one deity of the setting.

Do you know how everything came to be - the origins of all the races? Or do you care?

Yes. It's my ultimate pet peeve that I have to know where all races and monsters come from to really be satisfied with my setting. Again, this is mostly for me on most of the older beings (how human and elfes came into the world is actually common knowledge)

Do your players know this origin? How much of it do they know?

They know next to nothing. Of the truth that is. Every player will know what the priests of the one deity tell, what the uncivilizised races say and how the elfes came into the world as planar traveler. But of the mythological history of the world they won't know much more until high level, and even then only if plot relevant. They propably won't care anyway.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Anchient history is done with a light brush -the orgin myth says that halfling people came to the islands from elsewhere, but evolved into halflings while living there. Elves once built on many of the isles, then vanished and have returned only in small numbers. Humans, dwarves and dragons arrived later, in waves of migrations.

Do they care? I have gotten occasional questions on one point or another, And I went over the origin myth when a religious celebration was being practiced, but it doesn't effect the PCs much.

As to recent history, they are more interested. The rise and fall of cities and cultures in the last eight hundread years is more important, as they keep exploring the ruins. Its also handy for keeping track of the relative strength of dragons. (As there are a lot of dragons)

 

[Mark Hope]

Have you developed a detailed world creation for your world?

Yes, my long-running homebrew (22+ yrs) has a creation story that evolved over the first decade or so of play. It involves planets shifting through parallel dimensions and the universe as a whole going through cycles of creation and unbeing.

Do you know how everything came to be - the origins of all the races? Or do you care?

Yes, it's all pretty well fleshed out. I care more than is probably healthy for me.

Do your players know this origin? How much of it do they know?

Over the first 20 years of play, only 2 players ever discovered the truth through uncovering mysteries and the like. The last phase of the campaign finished with the ending of one cycle of existence and the beginning of another and the principal characters ascended to divinity. So the players of that sequence all know now as well. That whole sequence has now become embedded into the creation myths of the new cycle, so it will be interesting to see if the new set of players in the campaign ever cotton on to what is going on.

 

[DrNilesCrane]

I've found that a little history seems to go a long way with most players: I usually just provide the basic, broadstrokes with more details on whatever is most recent / affects the characters lives and fill in additional details as the campaign progresses or as either I or the players develop it. I usually have much more in mind, but it's hard to call upon even the most dedicated players to read reams of material, especially as most of my players having familes, jobs, etc. also competing with them for time.

 

[Altalazar]

I love history. I also like to have context. So for me, worldbuilding must include the backstory of how the world got to where it is now. Now, I only feel the need to make broad-brush strokes for most of it, leaving other details for later, unless they directly relate to the current campaign. Of course, as I fill it in, I add more, as I did with every adventure I ran in the world.

Sometimes the history matters to what the players are doing and sometimes it doesn't. But it is something I enjoy filling in, so it is there whether they need to know it or even care about it or not.