World Building

[Turanil]

Thanks for this great article reanjr!
I am currently designing a new campaign, and although I am convinced to be good at that kind of "sport", I have found invaluable tips in your advices.

 

[jgbrowning]

You can try our two books, A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture and A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. I think they're beneficial to pretty much any world-builder.

joe b.

 

[pensiv]

I want to second Joe Browning's recommendation of his books. They are invaluable resources.

 

[Khayman]

You can try our two books, A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture and A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. I think they're beneficial to pretty much any world-builder.

joe b.

I'l second AND third that. Ecology & Culture is a good overview of the worldbuilding process (geography, ecology, etc.) for a magical setting. Western Europe is, well, for modelling a game fairly closely on medieval Western Europe.

Another book I find quite handy is the venerable World Builder's Handbook for Megatraveller. Might be hard to find these days, but the combination of physics and bizarre social tables makes it worthwhile even in a non-sci-fi game. I once created a low-tech non-magical gameworld set on the Zhodani frontier, with gnolls (Vargr), two human races (Zhodani and a minor race), elves (a pocket of Vilani), and an ecology of local monsters (alien animals). Magic was replaced with psionics and the odd piece of technology left by the original settlers. The planet's social details were rolled randomly and had some interesting variations --- criminals-turned-military, tattooed newlyweds, and so on.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

You can try our two books, A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture and A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. I think they're beneficial to pretty much any world-builder.

These are fantastic books. Do not pass them up. Get them. Get them now.

A buddy of mine was flipping through my printed PDF of A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. and summarized it like this: "this is the book I've waited 20 years for someone to write".

These are great books.

 

[William Ronald]

I am finishing A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture and plan to start on A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. So far, I have been pleased.

I think a key thing is to know what you want in your world. Ask yourself some questions on what races, climates, themes, and creatures exist in it. Asking these questions at the beginning may help the world appear to be a seamless whole.

 

[Mercule]

You can try our two books, A Magical Society: Ecology and Culture and A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. I think they're beneficial to pretty much any world-builder.

Absolutely. I graduated college one class shy of a minor in Medieval history (they should tell you this stuff before your last semester) and MMS:WE added to my knowledge. I've currently only made it halfway through it, but I have no qualms recommending it.

That, of course, assumes you want something remotely resembling Western Europe. Actually, even if you don't, it gives some insight just into how some social constructs form. Good for adding some depth.

 

[iblis]

Thanks for some great responses, particularly from reanjr with the virtual *essay* there, which has helped already.

Also, I will certainly take a look at the books mentioned ASAP.

cheers,

iblis

 

[Greatwyrm]

One more bump for the 2e D&D World Builder's Guide. Check RPGnow.com. They have a lot of old 2e supplements available as pdfs.

The Gygax worldbuilding series by Troll Lord Games is pretty good.

I've also like the three builder books from Fantasy Flight. Wildscape, Citycraft, and Dungeoncraft.