D&D General What's a good resource for creating a campaign world?

[DarkCrisis]

I've been reading this http://web.archive.org/web/20111222...key.com/2011/06/ryth-chronicle-1975-1977.html and love seeing how their world/adventure area grows (plus all the other stuff in it).

From a town with NPCs and factions and laws and TWO adventuring areas/dungeons (each at least 4 levels deep!) to more being added like an island and a forest.

I've tried doing them kind of freestyle but I've never been happy with the results.

What would be a good resource to help me create something on my own. Possibly a free one? Or a really good book/pdf I could order.

Thanks!

 

[aco175]

I know the Matt Colville MCDM videos are good, mostly the older ones. I enjoy the way he presents information and his thoughts are well laid out.

I have tried to create a world and found it overwhelming but may good places talk about starting small or rough elements of larger areas and still a focus on the small. Also keep in mind of why you are making things. If it is to publish for many or just to have a fun place for your group.

We have a few threads on this site as well for this.

 

[payn]

3E DMG II.

 

[overgeeked]

Worlds Without Number is the single best resource for this. There are free and paid versions on drivethru.

 

[el-remmen]

I recommend Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft articles from Dragon mag (1997 to 99).

 

[Meech17]

@SlyFlourish often talks about "Spiral Out Design". Typically you start one just one area. Maybe a town, and a dungeon and whatever you need for just the next session. Then, after that session you hopefully know where the PCs are heading so you can do that next. Maybe another town or village, or another area. Doing this each session over a campaign will lead to a large and filled out world.

This does depend on actually playing a game to work however. Sometimes you want to world build and work on stuff outside of the game though. I've been working on making my campaign world and trying to do a little bit of both.

I started small with a village. This was something I did just for funsies, but I tried to make it the way they did back in ye olden TSR days. I went through and named every villager, what they did, what their attitude towards the PCs would be at default, and I even went so far as to fill in loot amounts. I also went through and made up a rumor about each villager.

It was so much work. I can't say that I'd suggest it unless you're a masochist or just really bored. What's a real kick in the pants is that it appears my PCs are very goal oriented, and are ready to move on from town. They have met like three of the thirty-some odd named NPCs I loveingly birthed.

So I'm back to the spiral out design. I think I know where the party is going next, so I'm making smaller plans. A new town, a major Inn, 3-5 names NPCs, and then I just need to find a really good name list for anyone else.

 

[el-remmen]

It was so much work. I can't say that I'd suggest it unless you're a masochist or just really bored. What's a real kick in the pants is that it appears my PCs are very goal oriented, and are ready to move on from town. They have met like three of the 30 some odd named NPCs I lovely birthed.

There is definitely a way to combine these approaches. I can be pretty detailed in my village building too - but I try to use existing modules/adventure town locations as a basis, esp. when I plan to offer hooks for those adventures. Even if you use nothing else, just grabbing the town map and location descriptions from places like Hommlet and Orlane can save a lot of time and help to break you (general you, me, really) out of patterns you fall into when creating.

So as the PCs spiral out, I am plastering over transitions between published and homebrew material to make them smooth.

 

[cbwjm]

I recommend Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft articles from Dragon mag (1997 to 99).

You can find them online here: https://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/dnd/dungeoncraft/

 

[Lanefan]

The best resources for worldbuilding are IMO a) your own imagination and b) time.

And while I realize that the spiral-out approach advocated by @Meech17 can work OK, it also risks baking in some overriding inconsistencies that can end up undermining the setting in the long run.

And so, learning from experience, I've concluded that a far more functional approach is, in effect, "spiral in". Start with the big stuff - cosmology, pantheons, continent-scale map - and then work downward in ever-increasing detail, eventually reaching the town and dungeon with which you intend to start play.

That way, as-when the PCs expand their footprint and start exploring the world, you're already prepared; rather than having to make it all up on the fly.

 

[MGibster]

Honestly, a textbook from an anthropology 101 college course. I'm pretty sure that's where I first learned about world-systems theories. When I design my own setting from scratch, I try to designate core regions, periphery regions, and sometimes semi-periphery regions when I'm feeling a bit frisky. But you can also mine the book for different ways to structure societal institutions like education, marriage, family, religion, etc., etc.