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World Building - Suggestions Please (be kind lol)
- Thread starter Kristivas
- Start date
GuardianLurker
Adventurer
Hmm... I guess I've never really thought about it before. I guess one thing I'd caution you against is thinking that world-building is a linear experience, the way some tutorials suggest. It's a kind of drunkard's walk though subjects and level of detail (at least for me). And it isn't all top-down or bottom-up.
You may start detailing the player's home village/town, then realize that you need to rough out their nation (and it's justice system), because the ruler's agents are coming to arrest them (on false, trumped-up charges, obviously), and haul them off to the regional/national capitol to face charges/stand trial. So now you need to detail the court (and possibly the jail/dungeons). You'll keep bouncing around like that for a while.
But don't fall into the trap that you'll do things/cover subjects in a rigid sequence; if you try you'll soon run dry of inspiration and stopped dead. And if you get far enough ahead of your players, don't be afraid to work on that bit of world that's always interested you but that your players won't be interacting with for a while.
To see what I'm talking about, check out the blog in my sig, and follow the posts in timeline fashion. Right now, I'm working almost entirely high-level, but that's because I want to give my players a choice of where to start, and type of campaign.
You may start detailing the player's home village/town, then realize that you need to rough out their nation (and it's justice system), because the ruler's agents are coming to arrest them (on false, trumped-up charges, obviously), and haul them off to the regional/national capitol to face charges/stand trial. So now you need to detail the court (and possibly the jail/dungeons). You'll keep bouncing around like that for a while.
But don't fall into the trap that you'll do things/cover subjects in a rigid sequence; if you try you'll soon run dry of inspiration and stopped dead. And if you get far enough ahead of your players, don't be afraid to work on that bit of world that's always interested you but that your players won't be interacting with for a while.
To see what I'm talking about, check out the blog in my sig, and follow the posts in timeline fashion. Right now, I'm working almost entirely high-level, but that's because I want to give my players a choice of where to start, and type of campaign.
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