World Building Poll

[Drawmack]

My homebrew will one day start as a completely blank slate with the PCs writting the history. It'll probably use a couple of published cities where we can start the game then I can use that city's history as a starting point.

 

[doctorjeff98]

History is pulling ahead as 'the most important', but other than timelines, my players have pretty much written all of the history---the players write character background and then the actions of those characters become known amongst the local townsfolk.

 

[doctorjeff98]

In addition to timelines, something that I usually do is sketch the outline of a few continents and major island chains, then place the character's hometown somewhere on one of the continents. Almost like starting with a 'clean slate' I usually don't fill in many of the details like lakes or mountain chains until the characters reach those particular locations. I wonder how many people prefer to use complete commercial settings vs near complete slates vs filling in the details ahead of time ala Tolkien.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Regarding history, one of the things I've rarely seen in a module and don't remember ever seeing in a setting is variation or perspective. For example, one of the complaints I've seen on the boards is that too many players know the Realms better than their GM's ever will. There's simply too much published material available, and too much of it is "canon". Consider instead:

600 years ago there was a great war involving almost all the races. Each race teaches a slightly (or not-so-slightly) different version.
*To the dwarves, it is the War of Vengeance (the elven empire treacherously attacked them).
*To the elves, the Rebellion (the primitive and immature humans rebelled against their rightful rulers - elves).
*To the humans, the Days of Freedom (the downtrodden humans asserted their rights to equality among all the races).
*To the hobgoblins, the Betrayal (they were betrayed by their allies, the orcs).
*To the dragons, the Bloodletting (the toll was so great, whole regions were depopulated).
And so on. Each tale will have some truth and some fiction. By building such uncertainty into the world's history, it adds verisimilitude while also permitting me, as GM, to decide which pieces are more accurate - making my world a bit unique compared to everyone else running the same setting.

As a GM, I add my own tweaks to any setting I run. I'd just like to see a setting where the history facilitates this.

 

[doctorjeff98]

That is an excellent way to look at it---and very true to real life. I'd love to see the history books that get written in various countries discussing the most recent war.

 

[doctorjeff98]

Another thought---how many people strive for a level realism in the campaign vs plain ol' fantasy fun? I suspect the modern and space rpger's are more likely to strive for realism---except they have more of an opportunity to play with world basics, like the laws of physics or that world of metallic cubes mentioned by die_kluge previously.