World Questions « Thread Started on May 7, 2010, 4:52pm »
I have been working on my own world for OD&D/S&W by using parts of a world I have been working on for some time. The idea is the common fantasy feel and trimmings. Most of the areas are a warmer temperate and not much different that the European template that all fantasy has.
Here's the problem. While I am comfortable with the above I am finding the commonly used ideas for place names bland. I have been more interested in using names like Antioch, Corinth, Kadesh and the like for names. However, I don't feel they fit the terrain I am using.
Anyone have any ideas?
« Last Edit: May 7, 2010, 4:53pm by Julian Grimm »
Joined: Jul 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 2,503 Karma: 57
Re: World Questions « Reply #1 on May 7, 2010, 5:09pm »
Use what names you like, whether you think they fit the terrain or not. If the game is successful, you'll be using these names for quite some time, so you want to have something you like.
Also, the fact that the names don't "fit" as you say can be an advantage -- it helps the players realize that things are not the same as here on Earth.
And if you need another reason to use such names, set up your background so that these names are holdovers from some ancient empire (which also might be where dungeons come from...)
And if you need another reason to use such names, set up your background so that these names are holdovers from some ancient empire (which also might be where dungeons come from...)
That is a good one and an idea I had peculating. This empire could have been in a middle or near east area and the culture held these names over as it migrated. Look at how many names like this appear in the US.
Re: World Questions « Reply #5 on May 8, 2010, 12:06pm »
Next question. I want to build a world that is more along the lines of OD&D. I know that it means less is more so, how much history, mythology and such should I use?
Next question. I want to build a world that is more along the lines of OD&D. I know that it means less is more so, how much history, mythology and such should I use?
What do you mean by an OD&D world? That will help in offering suggestions on what you could do to reach where you want to go.
As for "how much to make before play?", I would say only as much as can be addressed by the players in the total time available for the first session. In my experience, this means that the first session will require a good amount of preparation, but this work will substantially help in creating later scenarios for future sessions.
Think of the scenario like a crystalline structure. The seed crystal includes all of the elements you want in the starting world, the rules are how this structure will construct itself. Produce the world forward until you have enough material to address, like area to traverse, for a single session. Then progress it beyond the campaign starting time for the scenario, the session timeline. In game, alter the scenario as the players attempt their actions within it. For the following sessions add more as needed according to the direction of the exploration taken so far and the extraneous elements attempted by the players and not in the rule structure already.
Quote:
I have been working on my own world for OD&D/S&W by using parts of a world I have been working on for some time. The idea is the common fantasy feel and trimmings. Most of the areas are a warmer temperate and not much different that the European template that all fantasy has.
Here's the problem. While I am comfortable with the above I am finding the commonly used ideas for place names bland. I have been more interested in using names like Antioch, Corinth, Kadesh and the like for names. However, I don't feel they fit the terrain I am using.
Anyone have any ideas?
If you want a terrain type and weather zone that fits your maps and your cultural or naming conventions, then start your world in such a place. It sounds like you are struggling with wanting a world like the eastern Mediterranean. But your maps are for more temperate zones. Personally, I would ditch the maps and construct them according to your world creation rules as you go along.
You could always keep them on hand to later place in areas entering into suitable regions. It's not as if that game structure cannot be constructed backwards through time either.
My suggestion is to keep things fluid, unmapped and undefined until you need them prepared for a session scenario. This enables the players to continually add what they like to the world through both game play and background desires.
Joined: Jan 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 227 Location: Wake Forest, NC Karma: 4
Re: World Questions « Reply #7 on May 8, 2010, 11:54pm »
There is no rule that says OD&D settings can't be as complex and developed as any later edition game, only that you should expect that alot of it will just be motivation information for you while running it that they may not live long enough to learn. I've played some Epic Basic D&D games as a kid, and some generic setting style AD&D 2e games.
That said, don't devote too much of your time, remember its a game, it should be fun, get a few of the big things out of the way, and wing it. If you remember to write down things you make up at random, like a kingdom name, a major event some village elder mentions yadda yadda and come back to them, you can have a complex living world with relative ease.
Re: World Questions « Reply #8 on May 16, 2010, 10:54pm »
So, I have sat back and looked things over and now have a good idea of what I want. I drew a map on some manila drawing paper that has a look of parchment to it. I am still copying from my sketch but it looks nice.
With that done I did some searching and came up with a manor grounds map that I am using for inspiration of the outer grounds of an area I will use as the main adventuring spot.
However I am stumped on floor plans for the manor house. I searched more but could not find floor plans for an older manor house to use; does anyone know of a good site for plans I can use for inspiration?
I have found that I need to forget a lot of what I thought I knew to get into what I think is the right mindset for running a long term OD&D game. (Dropping many pre-conceptions and assumptions).
I must protest bitterly that my aircraft still has not been painted red.
Joined: Mar 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 1,596 Location: Schenectady Karma: 73
Re: World Questions « Reply #9 on May 17, 2010, 11:56am »
IIRC Ravenloft II, The house on Gryphon Hill, is a big mannor type house you could steel the floorplans and some of the descriptions from. If this is a tropical setting though a key difference would be open and unwalled "interior" spaces.
Re: World Questions « Reply #11 on Aug 8, 2010, 1:47pm »
Rather than start a new thread I figured I would just add to this one. I had been debating on whether or not to run with a pre-existing campaign setting. However, after much thought and observation I felt that would not be my best choice in what I wanted to execute.
To me, it seems the essence of an OD&D style campaign lay in the creation of the campaign. Arneson had Blackmoor, Gygax had Greyhawk and Bledsaw had the Wilderlands. Even recently when reading about James M's Dwimmermount this rang true to what OD&D should be about.
( I do not hold any illusions that this is the way it should be. Rather, this is the way it feels the most true to me. Others have achieved the same satisfaction using existing settings, I however, feel like I am playing in the sandbox of someone else.)
With that decided I began noting and sketching out ideas that I have had in my head for awhile. These were from an old 3.X campaign that was never finished but that I loved. Making the needed alterations I tried to fit them on the existing map I had drawn and noticed that it felt wrong. This town was in the wrong spot, that ruin wasn't right and so on.
I decided that a new map was needed but this time it should be based with the town acting as the base as the central area and other areas radiating out from it. So far this works better and feels more correct than the old map which had the above areas shoehorned in. So far this seems to be the version I like best.
After this was all done, I had to wonder how many times Gygax, Arneson and others had to do this to get things right. Which leads me to ask; how many times have you had to revise or overhaul your setting to get it where you wanted?
After this was all done, I had to wonder how many times Gygax, Arneson and others had to do this to get things right. Which leads me to ask; how many times have you had to revise or overhaul your setting to get it where you wanted?
Neither Blackmoor nor Greyhawk were designed "top down" which probably helped in that context, whereas Bledsaw's original campaign setting (Middle Earth) had to be swept away and a fresh start made.
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Re: World Questions « Reply #14 on Aug 9, 2010, 12:29pm »
My approach is to sketch out a completely original region, similar to the “Vanth” map in Encounter Critical. Load it with as many evocative names you can think of, places the players will want to go. This is the known world where 95% of the campaign may take place. In the center of this lies a core town/castle/dungeon/wilderness area that is mapped out in detail. In the region there is also of course your abandoned Dwarven mine, your crashed spaceship, your evil temples to hideous ancient gods, your Overking’s City-State or corrupt capital of a “Great Kingdom” that once covered the entire region, towers and resort islands and sunken islands and deserts and mountains...
The world outside its borders, anything and everything goes. It contains all the lands and peoples of both Middle-earth and of the Hyborian Age. So there can be hobbits from the Shire and Noldor Elves and Picts and Stygians in the campaign; Morgoth’s Balrogs and Sauron’s Nazgûl and Nyarlathotep and Thoth-Amon. Outer space is the universe of Star Trek (Vulcans and Klingons!), and the nearest planet is Barsoom (Tharks and White Apes!). The gods, artifacts, monsters etc. are anything mentioned in the Supplements or homebrew.
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day! —J.R.R. Tolkien
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