What do you want from a campaign setting?

[jaldaen]

Seeds, not necessarily huge plots. It's nice when, if a big adventure comes out involving Evil Organization XYZ that whoever led that plot is some high ranking guy we've never heard about, instead of Sammaster, Vol, or some other well known bad guy. What happens to that well known bad guy should be in the hands of the GM.

Thanks for your suggestions... I definately agree that adventures should be based on baddies you've never (or hardly) heard about in the campaign book. The main antagonists of the campaign setting need to be untouched by the campaign designers and allow the GMs to take them out.

 

[jaldaen]

I'd like to see an abundance of detail. especially on NPC's. They should have personalities.

I agree, NPCs are an intergral part of drawing both GM and players into a setting and need top notch treatment... now here's a question for you. How detailed do you want the main protagonists/antagonists stats? Do you prefer just a general outline of the bad guy's stats, classes, and important abilities, which allows you to flesh out the rest of the NPC the way you want to or do you want the full stats laid out before you and if you don't like something you'll do some reengineering to get what you want?

unique rules only if they are trully unique and not just someone else's idea with little or no modifications.

Unique rules to bring out the style of the campaign are important to a campaign setting and I'm working on a few.

 

[jaldaen]

For example, following the "glossary of historical figures" could be a dungeon consisting of a tomb of a famous general. The section on fashion styles of the coastal baronies could be followed by some sort of adventure that actually used that information.

Thanks for the suggestions... definately worth looking into doing for the campaign setting book. So these would be short adventures (8-16 pages) following important sections of the setting book (Of course the downside to this is that it uses up a lot of space in the setting book) What about a follow-up product that did this? One that presented an adventure for each major section of the setting book? Would you want it to come out at the same time as the campaign setting? What if is came out a couple months later? Anyone else have any suggestions about adventures within a campaign setting book or an adventure book based on the major sections of the campaign setting?

 

[TheYeti1775]

No contained railroad plots.
Nothing will turn a player off more than a good railroad into action.
I know the Krynnites will cry foul but that is one of my reasons for not fully delving into Dragonlance. Loved the world and all, but if you didn't keep up with the Heroes of the Lance, then it just didn't matter.

If you PDF it, hyperlink it.

On the NPC things, if they are notable enough to the Campaign or Locale within put them. If you follow-up with the Accessories/Supplements then you flesh their supporting casts.
Using Realms as an example, it's important to note who the King of Cormyr is. It isn't that important who Johnny (better known as: Red Shirt #1) is.
Make note of their personalities and known associates, as well as any existing 'plot hooks' for them.

 

[TheYeti1775]

On your amount of detail for the NPC's.
Give their personality in the main body,
use the sidebar/bottombar for a Statblock if it's necessary.

Or you make your NPC's reference in the body to an Appendix.
That will also help you decide if you included too many NPC's in it.
Mainly because you will keep your Appendix small by nature.

 

[jaldaen]

There's a discussion on RPG.net that reminds of something that I actually like seeing: stuff that's there pretty much just for color. For instance, there might be a shrine to an unknown god at a crossroads. There's no adventure hook there, there's no overarching reason for it - it just is because it is... This kind of thing in a campaign really helps bring it to life for me, at least. It helps lend a sense of history, if it makes any sense that the inclusion of things that really have no history would do so.

Some forgotten past is always useful in a campaign setting allows the GM to create their own stories as to why something is the way it is... thanks for pointing this out as it is definately useful to remember that sometimes its what you don't say that can draw out a reader's imagination.

 

[jaldaen]

On the NPC things, if they are notable enough to the Campaign or Locale within put them. If you follow-up with the Accessories/Supplements then you flesh their supporting casts... Make note of their personalities and known associates, as well as any existing 'plot hooks' for them.

Thanks for your comments... so it sounds like I should keep the main campaign setting NPCs to the Big Fish of the setting and then use supplements to detail their cronies.

Anyone else have thoughts on how NPCs should be done? Stat blocks? If yes, then do you prefer the stats in an appendix or sidebar, something else?

 

[gizmo33]

What about a follow-up product that did this? One that presented an adventure for each major section of the setting book? Would you want it to come out at the same time as the campaign setting? What if is came out a couple months later?

Actually, I'd rather the campaign setting book come out as a follow up to the adventures book!

Seriously, it falls into the "dont' describe, show" advice that authors get (if I paraphrase correctly). A campaign setting is a setting for game adventures, I think that's the important part and I really think that it's vastly underrated by most publishers.

I do think there is a large community of (wealthy?) folks out there that probably buy gaming stuff just to read it. But my own personal experience as a DM is trying to get a game together for next weekend. I think if I were a new DM and inclined to use a published campaign, I would be more sold on a module that introduced bits of the campaign world and in the meantime gave me a good adventure to run. In other words - Lead off with the Lord of the Rings, not the Silmarillion.

A variation on this that I like is what S&S did with something like "Relics and Rituals", it's a book of magic items and stuff, but with blocks of "fluff" specific to the campaign world.

 

[jaldaen]

Actually, I'd rather the campaign setting book come out as a follow up to the adventures book!

Seriously, it falls into the "dont' describe, show" advice that authors get (if I paraphrase correctly). A campaign setting is a setting for game adventures, I think that's the important part and I really think that it's vastly underrated by most publishers... I would be more sold on a module that introduced bits of the campaign world and in the meantime gave me a good adventure to run. In other words - Lead off with the Lord of the Rings, not the Silmarillion.

So something similar to the way Iron Kingdoms was introduced by putting out the Witchfire Trilogy? Anyone else think its better to introduce a campaign setting through adventures, than through a campaign setting book? Or would putting both out at the same time (in the same product or seperate products) be a better way of doing it?

 

[jaldaen]

Here's a few interesting questions... For campaign settings that introduce new rules... would you want a "cheat sheet" in the back of the book that provides quick reference to the important rules in the campaign setting? What about character sheets for a campaign do you like character sheets tailored to the campaign setting to be included (or just give it to you as a free pdf?)? Also what are the kind of products you would pick-up as a player in campaign setting?