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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 3512657" data-attributes="member: 22779">Never mind that them modules actually come out and STATE that the PC's will not be returning to Sasserine.Sure, if you want to make that information relavent, that's fine.  But, that's changing what I said.  You've moved the goalposts.  That information is irrelavent to the setting in which it is presented.  If you change the setting - such as running Sasserine until 12th level, that's fine, but, that's NOT what is presented.  In other words, you've changed the story to fit your setting.Again, mentioning a single word on a map is NOT world building.  It's setting.  It's creating atmosphere.  However, spending pages detailing Dragotha when there is no chance that the players can visit Dragotha within the confines of the adventure is exactly the kind of thing I'm pointing at.And, again, this is not what I said.  Detailing elements where the players can go is perfectly fine.  It's better than fine actually, it's great.  However, detailing elements that are completely extraneous to the adventure is not.  So, having the entire WLD to choose from is great.  Detailing what exists outside of the WLD when the players cannot interact with it is not.Again, non-linear design is NOT world building.  It is perfectly reasonable to detail a thieves guild in a town.  Particularly if your party contains a thief that might want to join a theive's guild.  What is not groovy is detailing each and every member of the thieves guild for the past 100 years, which is what world building is all about.  You need a history to world build after all.  It isn't enough to simply have your 30 member thieves guild - we need what they've stolen, who they've talked to, what their history is - all dating back to day one when the guild was created.THAT'S world buiding.Which is the point I've been making again and again.No, it isn't.  Just saying that it is doesn't make it so.  The creation of a deep rich setting is simply setting.  We have a perfectly good word - setting.  What do we need a new word in world building?Because world building does not equal creating setting.  If I create a setting and the elements are relavent to the adventures within that setting, then that's nothing more than creating setting.  A detailed setting sure, but, still just setting.  World building is not only creating what is necessary for the plot or the adventure.  It's adding in a number of extraneous NPC's that the players will never interact with.  It's adding a population of Svirfneblin to the dungeon 400 years ago, who all vanished completely 305 years ago, leaving no trace.  It's all the extraneous crap that seeds setting book after setting book.Do we need the complete history of the ruling families of Sasserine in order to run the adventures?  Do we need to know that the harbourmaster lost his older son years ago and his younger one isn't interested in taking the family business?  That's what world building is.  It's adding in all that extraneous detail that has little or nothing to do with the plot.The first pages of the original Isle of Dread module included what would later become Mystara.  Those countries had absolutely no effect on the module.  None.  The information was entirely extraneous.  That's world building.Dragon's Monster Ecologies are articles that I've always loved.  I really have.  But, I love them because I'm a clodding nerd, not because they add anything to the game or the adventures that I run.  They are completely unnecessary to run any creature in D&D.  I love the articles, I really do.  But that doesn't mean that they are a complete indulgence on my part.</blockquote>

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