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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 3478493" data-attributes="member: 18280">I'm not sure about this, and I certainly don't buy that adventure design isn't rewarding.When I'm considering a new campaign world, often I start with the types of encounters I'd like to include, including the idea of "Who is the main villian?" and "Why?"  Then I start doing outlines to allow me to have a sense of the world that I am creating.  When I began my current game, the documents I appended earlier were the sum of non-specific setting that I did, plus a few rules add-ons, like "Totem Spirits of the Lakashi" which were designed to increase PC options.The next thing that I did was devise an initial "shakedown" adventure -- something that would allow play to begin fast, and that would give the PCs something to do while they learned a little about the world about them.  This adventure included:(1)  Role-playing encounters (including one with a green hag).(2)  Non-SRD and SRD monsters.(3)  Cultists, and a thing summoned by the cultists.(4)  Wilderness and Cavern encounters.(5)  A "side trek" while travelling.(6)  Both monetary and social rewards.  (Social rewards tie back into the world.)(7)  A big set-piece battle taking place over several related areas.(8)  Hooks to additional areas that the PCs might be interested in.  The "hooks" at this point lead to areas that are outlined, but not fully fleshed out.  I know what's there, but I don't write stat blocks and boxed text until there is some indication that the hook is on the immediate horizon.(9)  Lots of details about the world around them.  And by "details" I don't mean half-hour discussions of elven tea ceremonies.  I mean things like briefly describing the land they are travelling through, using specifics instead of generals ("turnips" instead of "vegetables", for instance), and implying relationships beyond the PC interactions (the ogre burying his dead wife, his son lying wounded inside the ruined tower).I have since gone on to include many additional world-building details, most of these either performing one of two functions (or both):(1)  Adding to PC options(2)  Adding to the range of encounter locations/optionsIn addition, all world-building is to add depth of meaning to encounters, characters, and locations, so that something discovered in the first adventure is actually relevant to something discovered later on.  IOW, there are rewards built into adventuring in the world that aren't immediately apparent, but increase a sense of connection when they are realized.I call that "good design".Of course, one should keep in mind that there are DM types, just as there are player types, and not every DM type is appropriate for every player type.  RC</blockquote>

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