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Twelve actions for an even fresher 6th edition, or for an ultra-basic retooling of 5e
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<blockquote data-quote="Polyhedral_Columbia" data-source="post: 6654555" data-attributes="member: 55445"><p><strong>World-Building is also part of the Core Setting.</strong></p><p></p><p>So I covered the World Hopping. That would be one-half of the Core Setting. But only half. The other half is World Building.</p><p></p><p>Just as the 4E default theme was "Points of Light", 6E's default theme would be "World Hopping + World Building"</p><p></p><p>In previous editions, the starting village was already named and mapped out (BECMI's Threshold, 3e's Oakhurst, 4e's Fallcrest). But in 6E, there'd be a page showing different village layouts, and the DM would be guided to choose one, or mix-and-match layouts, or draw their own from scratch. And each DM would name their own village! There could be a table of random syllables, like: Oak-, Fall-, Elm--+ -ton, -ville, -stead, -wick.</p><p></p><p>In 6E, when the characters come back to their home village after Excursions to other worlds, and when the DM is ready, the DM could begin to have the PCs explore the environs of their own homeworld. Of course, this homeworld could be one of the "Big Twelve" D&D Worlds (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, etc), but the default Core World would be the Un-Setting: a Make-your-own-World.</p><p></p><p>From the very start, the Core D&D rulebook would explictly say that it a tradition in 6E for each DM to not only visit other worlds, but also to make their own world, beginning with this simple village. Like Worldhopping, Worldbuilding is not *required*, but it is the expected default tradition. </p><p>Worldbuilding would simply be part of the game.</p><p></p><p>There would be clear steps for Worldbuilding, as clear as PHB's step for character generation.</p><p></p><p>One way to go about it is to start with an adventure-driven, gradual building of the setting. Once the DM gets around to considering what lies beyond the village, just place any adventure site (e.g. dungeon). And then another and another. Connect and place them on the map as you go--not ahead of time. Then make an overland map showing where those dungeons are...the "seven hexes" micro-campaign world. Place a town in the hexes. Then visit a city, then map the country, then map other countries, then map the continent, then map the world.</p><p></p><p>And each DM is encouraged to cut-and-paste entire countries from the various Excursions they own, and stitch them together, and rename them. That guidance is all in the Core D&D booklet.</p><p></p><p><strong>What if a DM is set on using a single, published world?</strong></p><p></p><p>The Core D&D book makes clear that each gaming group's campaign is a distinct parallel Multivese, in distinction from WotC's D&D Multiverse.</p><p></p><p>So even when the PCs visit a published world such as Forgotten Realms, its's a distinct parallel version of the one published by WotC. Each campaign is an alternate timeline of the published world. (Another way of looking at it is that the published world is the alternate timeline!)</p><p></p><p>And so every self-respecting DM or Gaming Group is guided to come up with their own name for their version of the published world, even it it simply be: "So-and-So's Forgotten Realms" or "Such-and-such Gaming Group's World of Greyhawk".</p><p></p><p><strong>Advanced Worldbuilding</strong></p><p></p><p>As I said, the Advanced D&D book would be a gigantic Ptolus-sized tome, and the DMs section would contain a Worldbuillding smorgasbord...a distillation of:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">All the stuff from the 2E-era World Builder's Guidebook</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The stuff from 3e's Stronghold Builders Guidebook.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">3e's Cityscape urban worldbuilding sourcebook.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The dominion-creation rules from the Companion boxed set from BECMI D&D.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">All the planet creation and solar system creation rules from Spelljammer</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The plane and cosmology creation from various editions' Manuals of the Planes.</li> </ul><p></p><p>In the Advanced D&D tome, there'd be explicit guidance and tables for "How to name a Campaign Setting", using published setting names as examples. The name could be chosen...or rolled randomly!</p><p></p><p>A table something like this:</p><p></p><p>First Name Element:</p><p></p><p>Colors: "grey", "black", "red", "blue", "golden", "silver" etc.</p><p></p><p>Other adjective, usually mysterious: "forgotten", "dark", "savage", "hollow", "known", "unknown", "mystery", "hidden", "secret"</p><p></p><p>Monster: "dragon", "ghost"</p><p></p><p></p><p>Second Name Element:</p><p></p><p>Animal: "hawk", "wolf", "eagle", etc.</p><p></p><p>Geographic: "realms", "moor", "coast", "world", "isles"</p><p></p><p>Celestial: "sun", "moon", "star", etc.</p><p></p><p>Arms and Armor: "steel", "lance", "knife" "sword", "axe", "helm", "shield" etc.</p><p></p><p>Other: "walk", "way", "guard", "watch"</p><p></p><p></p><p>And the planet name might be different than the Campaign Setting name (e.g. Toril vs. FR):</p><p></p><p>"Earth"-like names: Oerth, Uerth, Aerth, Yarth, Nerath</p><p></p><p>Other names: Toril, Abeir, Mystara, Aebrynis, Athas. There'd be a table of suggested syllables for combining to name a planet.</p><p></p><p></p><p>There'd be a section on how to design a logo, explaining how all the TSR/WotC D&D logos were designed.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>In 6E, self-publishing is part of the game!</strong></p><p></p><p>And to cap it off, part of the "game" would be for the DM or Gaming Group to eventually publish their homebrew world! That's exactly what the D&D Compatible license is for.</p><p></p><p>To that end, there'd be a passage in the DM's section about how to write an Excursion/Worldbook. There'd be a template showing what needs to be included, which is really modeled on the published Excursions. The goal is to help DMs and gaming groups publish their world in a format which approaches professional quality.</p><p></p><p>Self-publishing becomes part of the game! An "optional" part, of course, but an explicitly supported part.</p><p></p><p>In conclusion, 6E would satiate both crowds: those who love the existing published worlds (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk), and those who love to build their own. Both approaches would be fully supported through a unique synthesis of World-Hopping plus World Building.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Polyhedral_Columbia, post: 6654555, member: 55445"] [b]World-Building is also part of the Core Setting.[/b] So I covered the World Hopping. That would be one-half of the Core Setting. But only half. The other half is World Building. Just as the 4E default theme was "Points of Light", 6E's default theme would be "World Hopping + World Building" In previous editions, the starting village was already named and mapped out (BECMI's Threshold, 3e's Oakhurst, 4e's Fallcrest). But in 6E, there'd be a page showing different village layouts, and the DM would be guided to choose one, or mix-and-match layouts, or draw their own from scratch. And each DM would name their own village! There could be a table of random syllables, like: Oak-, Fall-, Elm--+ -ton, -ville, -stead, -wick. In 6E, when the characters come back to their home village after Excursions to other worlds, and when the DM is ready, the DM could begin to have the PCs explore the environs of their own homeworld. Of course, this homeworld could be one of the "Big Twelve" D&D Worlds (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, etc), but the default Core World would be the Un-Setting: a Make-your-own-World. From the very start, the Core D&D rulebook would explictly say that it a tradition in 6E for each DM to not only visit other worlds, but also to make their own world, beginning with this simple village. Like Worldhopping, Worldbuilding is not *required*, but it is the expected default tradition. Worldbuilding would simply be part of the game. There would be clear steps for Worldbuilding, as clear as PHB's step for character generation. One way to go about it is to start with an adventure-driven, gradual building of the setting. Once the DM gets around to considering what lies beyond the village, just place any adventure site (e.g. dungeon). And then another and another. Connect and place them on the map as you go--not ahead of time. Then make an overland map showing where those dungeons are...the "seven hexes" micro-campaign world. Place a town in the hexes. Then visit a city, then map the country, then map other countries, then map the continent, then map the world. And each DM is encouraged to cut-and-paste entire countries from the various Excursions they own, and stitch them together, and rename them. That guidance is all in the Core D&D booklet. [B]What if a DM is set on using a single, published world?[/B] The Core D&D book makes clear that each gaming group's campaign is a distinct parallel Multivese, in distinction from WotC's D&D Multiverse. So even when the PCs visit a published world such as Forgotten Realms, its's a distinct parallel version of the one published by WotC. Each campaign is an alternate timeline of the published world. (Another way of looking at it is that the published world is the alternate timeline!) And so every self-respecting DM or Gaming Group is guided to come up with their own name for their version of the published world, even it it simply be: "So-and-So's Forgotten Realms" or "Such-and-such Gaming Group's World of Greyhawk". [B]Advanced Worldbuilding[/B] As I said, the Advanced D&D book would be a gigantic Ptolus-sized tome, and the DMs section would contain a Worldbuillding smorgasbord...a distillation of: [LIST] [*]All the stuff from the 2E-era World Builder's Guidebook [*]The stuff from 3e's Stronghold Builders Guidebook. [*]3e's Cityscape urban worldbuilding sourcebook. [*]The dominion-creation rules from the Companion boxed set from BECMI D&D. [*]All the planet creation and solar system creation rules from Spelljammer [*]The plane and cosmology creation from various editions' Manuals of the Planes. [/LIST] In the Advanced D&D tome, there'd be explicit guidance and tables for "How to name a Campaign Setting", using published setting names as examples. The name could be chosen...or rolled randomly! A table something like this: First Name Element: Colors: "grey", "black", "red", "blue", "golden", "silver" etc. Other adjective, usually mysterious: "forgotten", "dark", "savage", "hollow", "known", "unknown", "mystery", "hidden", "secret" Monster: "dragon", "ghost" Second Name Element: Animal: "hawk", "wolf", "eagle", etc. Geographic: "realms", "moor", "coast", "world", "isles" Celestial: "sun", "moon", "star", etc. Arms and Armor: "steel", "lance", "knife" "sword", "axe", "helm", "shield" etc. Other: "walk", "way", "guard", "watch" And the planet name might be different than the Campaign Setting name (e.g. Toril vs. FR): "Earth"-like names: Oerth, Uerth, Aerth, Yarth, Nerath Other names: Toril, Abeir, Mystara, Aebrynis, Athas. There'd be a table of suggested syllables for combining to name a planet. There'd be a section on how to design a logo, explaining how all the TSR/WotC D&D logos were designed. [B]In 6E, self-publishing is part of the game![/B] And to cap it off, part of the "game" would be for the DM or Gaming Group to eventually publish their homebrew world! That's exactly what the D&D Compatible license is for. To that end, there'd be a passage in the DM's section about how to write an Excursion/Worldbook. There'd be a template showing what needs to be included, which is really modeled on the published Excursions. The goal is to help DMs and gaming groups publish their world in a format which approaches professional quality. Self-publishing becomes part of the game! An "optional" part, of course, but an explicitly supported part. In conclusion, 6E would satiate both crowds: those who love the existing published worlds (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk), and those who love to build their own. Both approaches would be fully supported through a unique synthesis of World-Hopping plus World Building. [/QUOTE]
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