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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rounser" data-source="post: 3477324" data-attributes="member: 1106">Couple of comments:1) Most DMs tend to write world first, adventures second.  If that's not the case, then the timbre of this thread has changed dramatically, because that's what seems to have been implied for the last 12 pages.  And that's what we see again and again on EnWorld threads - "here's the new world I'm designing".Why?  Because worldbuilding is fun and rewarding.  Writing adventures is too much like hard work, whereas writing about races and empires that never were are not only involves game design tweaks to stamp your trademark on D&D (fun) and is epic in scope (ego), but work up enthusiasm for what the campaign might be like, one day (daydreaming).  The fact that the DM probably  never gets around to writing the stuff that would actually make the rubber meet the road (the adventures) is overlooked by wishful thinking generated by the enthusiasm that worldbuilding can provide.2) Railroading is extremely common, as hinted at by the post on the last page about PCs having free rein to visit the planet they like, and the confusion that generated.  Like putting worldbuilding first and foremost, it's a bad habit that seems to be the rule rather than the exception.Why?  Because writing a campaign with all the i's dotted and the t's crossed is a massive amount of work, even if you railroad it from start to finish.  So that leaves two approaches - the unrailroaded improvised adventure which often falls into cliche or "beige" predictability with a lack of meaningful detail, or the "here's tonight's adventure" railroad.  The other option (crossed t's and dotted i's, matrix campaign arc format) is way too much work with or without worldbuilding, so these two approaches are how DMs generally seem to get by IME.If you have created campaigns with a matrix format (i.e. unrailroaded) with the level of detail of a published module, then that makes you a rare bird indeed.  The usual compromise is either to worldbuild in detail and run improvised adventures from a few notes, or to run a self-prepared or published module that is fully written up and railroad the PCs into it.  I think that the heavy worldbuilding, improvised adventures approach is flawed, and that the self-indulgent and dubiously useful worldbuild-in-detail bit can be to a large degree removed, with more attention and effort applied to those scanty adventure notes....or if taking the "here's tonight's adventure" approach, lessen the time spent on worldbuilding so that there's time to present more than one hook and adventure for the night's play.</blockquote>

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