Trouble With Worldbuilding and Adventure Writing

[Allistar1801]

I definitely have a problem when it comes to making concepts and actually making a game for the players, but I have no idea what to really do about that. I have tried both styles when it comes to scale and how much worldbuilding goes into a campaign, but it never seems to change anything. When I try to keep it small and build out as the player's interest in something increases, it ends up being a very bog standard adventure with no motivation or anything besides a group going on a weekly adventure with no lasting consequences. When I try to build around a concept, I find it next to impossible to come up with any kind of adventure for the PCs to go on. I hate that my brain does this, but I can't seem to figure a way around it. I have a concept that I very much want to make work, but I can't find a starting point or decide if I should even DM given my past experiences.

My most recent example. I had the idea of a setting that leans a bit more into the implications of magic and how it would affect civilization. To keep it brief, magic has become the new symbol of status and power, so sorcerers with their magic, "royal blood" start replacing the nobility, wizardry is regulated by the state and more heavily used as a military force because it can easily wipe out entire units given a well timed fireball, meanwhile the clergy are dealing with a succession crisis because resurrection magic kinda throws a wrench into the system that relies on people replacing other people after their death. I like this concept, and it could serve as a nice backdrop, but I have no idea how to capitalize on it and start an adventure with any of this.

The only thing I've come up with is a bare bones outline where the players are enrolled into one of these lord's academies (through various methods such as kidnapping, conscription, or family favors with these sorcerers and the like), meet each other through the classes, get some background set up, and flash forward to them having to take a practical test (I.E go on their first adventure) before they can officially go out as agents in service to their lord. This takes them to a town where yada yada yada happens and the players can do their thing and let it grow naturally with a few plot hooks. Maybe I'm just being too self deprecating, but I feel like this isn't any good and that I should just restart.

So, what do you think I should do, in terms of writing world building and even running this game? I don't want to let my group down, but I just don't know if I should be doing this given that I have this much trouble with writing.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Seems like maybe you knock yourself down too much. Just go with what you have, and then regularly do roses and thorns with your players to tweak the adventuring to what they are interested in.

 

[hawkeyefan]

@Allistar1801 I think you’ve got some cool ideas for a setting there. I think all that makes for a great backdrop. Now, the question is how to hook the PCs into things.

Have you asked the players what kind of characters they’d like to play? Have you discussed the setting with them at all? That might be a good way to get some ideas. Maybe what they come up with will inspire you.

More generally, I’d say to steal regularly and unashamedly. Just use plot hooks, concepts, and characters from whatever media interests you. Reskin or repurpose them as needed. Come up with some NPCs with goals and motivations. Put them at odds with one another....that should present some opportunities.

The game Blades in the Dark has good advice on how to begin a game. Take two factions and set them at odds. Perhaps in your work it would be the church/magocracy and the former nobility. Then, add a third faction to the mix....one that can prosper or suffer from the conflict. Have that third party ask the PCs to help.

Adding that third faction really helps to open things up. It’s a good starting point.

 

[ninjayeti]

You have some cool ideas. Now think about the sorts of conflicts those ideas would create and build adventures around those:

1) If sorcerers are the new nobles....what happened to the old nobles? The former elites are probably not going sit idle while their power and status slips away. Maybe the PC's are sent after rebels working for the old guard.
2) If wizardry is heavily regulated....what happens to wizards who feel the rules are unreasonable and refuse to obey them? Maybe the PCs need to investigate and shut down outlaw wizard orders.
3) If magic has come to dominate the battlefield....what happens to the former soldiers/knights who are increasingly obsolete? Maybe some old soldiers are making dangerous pacts with demons to gain warlock powers.
4) If resurrection upsets the natural order....what will various religious factions do to make things right? Maybe fanatics are assassinating people who have been raised from the dead.

These are all conflicts that can be introduced to the campaign initially as low level tensions. This lets you foreshadow the adventures you will throw at them latter down the road.

These are also conflicts that can be presented as morally ambiguous, letting you more deeply explore these ideas and giving players a choice in what side they will take. Maybe the PCs start out working for a sorcerer-lord to hunt down agents of the old nobility, but come to realize the nobles were wiser and more just rulers than the sorcerer-lords. Sure, those rogue wizards are powerful - but if they haven't ever abused their power, should they really be treated as criminals? Maybe resurrection DOES have some terrible long term consequences that most people don't fully understand yet.

Once you start looking for the conflicts, I think you will have lots of rich material with these ideas.

 

[John Dallman]

… meanwhile the clergy are dealing with a succession crisis because resurrection magic kinda throws a wrench into the system that relies on people replacing other people after their death.

I hit this problem many years ago, and the solution I found comes in several pieces:

• You don't get to resurrect people who have died of old age.
• Sensible monarchs retire when their heirs are ready to take up rulership.
• Larger polities tend to be run by oligarchies, meeting as councils, rather than monarchs.

The first piece came from the rules I was using at the time. The third was from backstory: the big city in the campaign was run by an oligarchic council, since the wizards and thieves had got fed up with the local warlord at the same time, and made it impractical for him to maintain his rule without killing half the population, and he felt that was pointless. The second was created by a PC who'd founded a small kingdom, and realised much later that retiring from being king was the right thing to do.

 

[ART!]

I think you have everything you need. Just work out the factions, important NPCs, and their connections, agents, goals, and timelines, and go!

 

[Aldarc]

I definitely have a problem when it comes to making concepts and actually making a game for the players, but I have no idea what to really do about that. I have tried both styles when it comes to scale and how much worldbuilding goes into a campaign, but it never seems to change anything. When I try to keep it small and build out as the player's interest in something increases, it ends up being a very bog standard adventure with no motivation or anything besides a group going on a weekly adventure with no lasting consequences. When I try to build around a concept, I find it next to impossible to come up with any kind of adventure for the PCs to go on. I hate that my brain does this, but I can't seem to figure a way around it. I have a concept that I very much want to make work, but I can't find a starting point or decide if I should even DM given my past experiences.

I would look into constructing Fronts from Dungeon World. Or using the Game Creation sheet from Fate. The general idea found in both of these is writing down the major NPCs, opposition/factions, and the impending and current issues that you would like the players to face or exist in the background of player activity. It may help to jot these things down and keep them to a relative minimum.

My most recent example. I had the idea of a setting that leans a bit more into the implications of magic and how it would affect civilization. To keep it brief, magic has become the new symbol of status and power, so sorcerers with their magic, "royal blood" start replacing the nobility, wizardry is regulated by the state and more heavily used as a military force because it can easily wipe out entire units given a well timed fireball,

This is a neat idea. I could definitely imagine a stylized Roman Senate that forms around noble blood and sorcery. I believe that the nation of Telvinter in Bioware's Dragon Age has something like this. Several issues may be present here: what is the relation of sorcery and wizardry in other nations? Do wizards believe that they are entitled to share rule? Does becoming a wizard impart the blood of sorcery on offspring? What about bastard children?

meanwhile the clergy are dealing with a succession crisis because resurrection magic kinda throws a wrench into the system that relies on people replacing other people after their death.

Or what would this mean if a noble sorcerer became a lich? Does the law say that one relinquishes their claim after death? So if someone dies but is resurrected, are they still heir claimants by the letter of the law? What conflict might be present if someone challenges that? How might this impact political assassinations? What if the clergy is bribed into intentionally failing their resurrection ritual of the deceased noble? What if the gods (or powers that be) refuse to resurrect someone? What if a noble has someone steal the body so that the deceased can't be resurrected?

I like this concept, and it could serve as a nice backdrop, but I have no idea how to capitalize on it and start an adventure with any of this.

Create instability in the realm by creating a succession crisis. What would the seeds of the succession crisis look like? How might the major nobles move pawns around to their favor? Since I mentioned the Roman Republic, why not consider how resurrection magic might have created a succession crisis for Rome and have that happen. Does this crisis precipitate the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire?

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Maybe I'm just being too self deprecating, but I feel like this isn't any good and that I should just restart.

So, what do you think I should do, in terms of writing world building and even running this game? I don't want to let my group down, but I just don't know if I should be doing this given that I have this much trouble with writing.

Nah bro, these aren't good ideas. They're great ideas! I want to steal them!

And that's just the thing... as Pablo Picasso put it, "Good artists copy, great artists steal."

You want to be a great DM? You're gonna steal, you're gonna do it ruthlessly and shamelessly, and if you do it well none of your players will ever know or care because they're too enthralled with the game.

Because here's the deal - you don't have time to build a world from scratch, and think of everything your players will want to ask. You've got bills to pay. There are guys who do this stuff for a living - they're called GAME DESIGNERS.

Game designers aren't gods, though, and a good DM is probably capable of doing the same work they do given the time that they can spend on it. But you've got a fraction of that time. And since they aren't gods, feel free to taint their creation however you desire. The only canon welcome here is the kind that shoots metal balls or turbolaser blasts. And maybe the kind that wears robes and casts healing spells, if that's more your thing.

The issue here is that you've got great macro ideas. That's some nice skin, or maybe at this level, clothing. But you need muscles, bones, organs, blood vessels... you get the idea. That's where you need to pick some materials to rob blind.

(Be careful! Don't rip off something all your players know. I've made that mistake before. But there's so much material out there... you shouldn't need to do this.)

I'll demonstrate how I homebrewed a setting through this method in the last several minutes, between preparing client correspondence and running to the copier:

First we need a theme. I'm not thinking something quite as big and grandiose as yours... I'm going to go with something easy - dark Germanic fairytale. Quaint villiages, mysterious castles, cursed knights, faerie-haunted woods, and lots of people named Fritz and Hans. Cool.

Okay, we need a home base. Something well fleshed out that we can scratch the serial numbers off of. This is a quaint, dark fairytale world, so we don't really want a bustling metropolis. No Waterdeep, Lankhmar or Greyhawk here. Let's see, what are some good villages... well, if your players are really new to the game, or old grognards just starting 5e after a hiatus, Phandelver would work fine. If they're newer-school gamers for whom AD&D has less meaning than ADHD, maybe try using good ol' Hommlet, or Restenford from The Curse of Bone Hill - both very well rendered villages. But I'm not going with either of those.

Nope, we're gonna steal Bree. Grab yourself a PDF of the Cubicle 7 Bree-land supplement and you're good to go.

BREE? But all my players have watched the Peter Jackson trilogy like ten times!

Doesn't matter. They don't remember anything about it that matters here, and will never notice. As long as you've ripped Barleyman Butterburr's skin off and replaced him with Gersteman von Leerweiss, a fat jolly old knight who took over the great big Landsknecht Gasthaus (which is going to become one of their favorite places to drop coin after an adventure), they're never even gonna notice. They're not in Bree, they're in Bockenburg, and they're never gonna realize they're in Bree. Especially because you just replaced all the hobbits with gnomes.

None of this is going to take any more work than scratching out a handful of descriptions (far from all, just a few flavorful ones) and keeping a random German name generator and a random Gnome name generator handy to rename all the hobbits and humans. Everything else remains the same...
… and they'll be too busy playing to notice. Hmm... let's make the Dunedain into cursed wood elf rangers from an ancient fallen kingdom that used to be on these lands... kewl. We'll give them Celtic names. The Dwarves who wander through... are still just the Dwarves who wander through. They dress well and have a lot of coin. Maybe we'll use old norse names... or better yet, Polish. There we go.

There, I just saved you dozens of hours of work.

Now we need adventure material.

There are a few low level adventures and hooks in the Bree book... those will get us started. Then we need some more nearby environs.

First we need a big cursed wood. If you have new players, go ahead and reskin some of the old Myth Drannor supplements, and you're off to the races. Or whip out Dolmenwood.

Now we need some more towns, slightly bigger, for higher level adventures. Preferably with lots of werewolves, and some undead. Oh yeah. Are we pulling out Feast of Goblyns? Yes we are.

After the elf-kingdom fell, there was a human kingdom, now also fallen. We need some grim old castles. Let's throw in Palace of the Silver Princess, Castles Forlorn, and "The Forgotten Man" from Dungeon #75. There's plenty of spookiness and classic fantasy castle adventure. We also need a ruined tomb/big freaking dungeon. How about the Tomb of Abysthor? It's not quite as daunting as Rappan Athuk, and more coherent.

My god man, I think we have a setting here! I want to go run this right now!

That's how I build a campaign, and it just snowballs from there. Lots of details I wouldn't think of are pre-filled - and I can fill in the rest. Analysis paralysis is broken, as rather than creating the setting, I'm co-discovering it.

Now, you try. Let's reach out to the EnWorld Hive Mind and see what materials might work well for your campaign idea...

 

[aco175]

I have been playing FR since 5e came out since I do not have time for world building but I like your ideas and can see where this would make a good game.

I like to start small and might make a sorcerer/noble NPC with a problem to lure the PCs in. Maybe the players read the primer on your world or not and now you can introduce the connection between sorcerers and nobility and the mage general who thinks he can rule better. That's your conflict and another connection with your new world and another like FR. You can have something of a quest to get get a rare component that will be used to raise the noble's mother back from the dead, even though this will make he 'unlanded'- which the PCs would know about since they grew up there.

 

[Celebrim]

In almost all adventure stories, the villain drives the plot and the heroes react to it.

Think of the MCU, for example. Almost everything that happens in it is because a villain does something. The villain is seeking something. The villain is enacting some plot.

Whether you are building up from the bottom or starting with an overarching story plot, the important thing is to have a villain creating a tangible problem for the protagonists to ultimately solve.