Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2016 22:26:17 GMT -6
To avoid sidetracking the other thread, I started a new one for this question. When you create a campaign setting, what do you do? To down? Bottom up? A combination or something else?
|
|
|
Post by tkdco2 on Oct 27, 2016 23:20:15 GMT -6
I draw the map, write down the history, and make a list of who's who in the campaign area. If gods are active in this world, I create a pantheon. If the campaign is a bit different from the regular D&D fantasy, I note which rules apply (which races are allowed, how much magic in the world, etc). If the campaign is science fiction, I try to make sure the planets have some measure of scientific accuracy when I design them.
|
|
|
Post by tetramorph on Oct 28, 2016 8:34:46 GMT -6
I keep reading.
I realize I want to try something different and I add to it.
Now, I've only been back to playing D&D as an adult about 3 years now.
But I think I only have ever really had one campaign setting as a ref.
I just keep tweaking it and changing it as I read more.
|
|
|
Post by capvideo on Oct 28, 2016 10:37:17 GMT -6
Yeah, I start by making maps. I enjoy drawing maps, so I take out a piece of paper—usually not hex paper at first—and start drawing stuff based on whatever idea I had.
Usually at some point when I start liking the map, I’ll write myself a short, one- or two-paragraph description of what I’m going for—what the milieu is going to be like, how it got that way.
Then I’ll think about some likely places to put first-level characters, do a few more maps, and build out from there, according to what interests me.
|
|
|
Post by talysman on Oct 28, 2016 13:09:11 GMT -6
It depends, but in general, I just make a starting location and decide what's available in terms of class, race, etc. Then I make a couple broad statements about the world, which might include a major conflict, recent or impending. I fill in details later, as they occur to me or when needed, but my initial thoughts are "What's available for players to do or use?"
|
|
|
Post by derv on Oct 28, 2016 18:12:06 GMT -6
I always start with some sort of broad concept in mind. "What is the region like?" sort of questions. I'll jot down some brief one or two word descriptions. These could include ideas about the people, environment, outlook, history, cosmology, threats, etc. Really, I'm just brainstorming until things fit together as a background in my mind. Nothings written in stone and nothing has a place yet. It's all very flexible.
I'll then develop some sort of staging area for the players. It might be a town or city, but it could even be a caravan or sea vessel. It all depends on my initial concept. I don't over develop the staging area. It's kept pretty simple to start. I can devote more detail to it later on if the players decide to spend alot of time there. Generally, I'll come up with a number of NPC's for this area for the players to interact with and pass on rumors and lore (lure).
At this point, I'll start creating a map. Again, I keep this pretty basic. I'll include some major topography and terrain features. Then I'll place or randomly determine a few nearby towns, cities, or encounter areas. I'll give these things names. I don't over do it.
Next, I like to start developing a campaign-unique wandering monster table. This is modeled after U&WA. Not much I need to say there.
If the game is certain to start with a dungeon delve, I'll work on developing the first 3 levels. I'll give some thought to how to describe the area when it's first encountered.
That's about it to start. I'll let the campaign grow from there, adding bits and pieces as I get feedback from the players and a feel for what they want to do.
I've always viewed campaigns as a joint venture between the GM and players.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2016 18:01:45 GMT -6
I added a poll to this, please feel free to describe what you do in as much detail as you want. I know I want to read it!! I picked my fourth option as how I primarily do it.
|
|
|
Post by foxroe on Oct 31, 2016 21:36:06 GMT -6
I start out with an idea (ex: a fantasy realm consisting entirely of islands, a major empire/naval power, and lots of pirates), sketch up a very rough map of the world/continent/region (ex: a chain of mountainous islands many days sail from the "main" island) where I may not even establish all of the geographical locations, then I detail a small area (ex: a volcanic island within the chain with a rough-and-tumble frontier port, and plenty of places to explore on the island), and then I flesh out one of the areas to explore (ex: an ancient water-logged temple to the Kraken-god rumored to contain hordes of treasure recovered from sunken ships).
Or, I may start with a very specific "bottom up" idea and allow the world to evolve organically (ex: Castle El Raja Key has mysteriously appeared in the outlying hills after a violent and phantasmagorical storm - the players are sent to investigate. In this case, the "world" is really irrelevant).
|
|
|
Post by barrataria on Nov 1, 2016 14:12:08 GMT -6
I suppose the best description is: either/or depending on the sort of idea I have. When I wanted a C&C campaign world dominated by a far-flung empire, and a couple of times designing worlds based on maritime trade and exploration... top down.
The world I designed for my B/X campaign, and any others I may throw together to actually run in-person games: bottom up.
In both cases, once I've got a firm enough idea to go on, I use Fractal Terrains to generate a bunch of world maps... when I find an interesting one that suits the creation, I copy it into Campaign Cartographer and start zooming in on areas to map out more fully. Those become hooks for campaigns, and the left-out portions remain "here be dragons" until I need them.
|
|
|
Post by delverinthedark on Nov 25, 2016 21:03:36 GMT -6
I used to be a very "top-down" guy, because I wanted to always be prepared with answers for everything the players could discover and situations for wherever they would want to go. That was certainly exhausting, though! Now I go from the bottom up; I'll begin with a reasonably-sized dungeon and/or a small (maybe 10 by 12) hex map and expand from there as necessary. One thing I like about this method (besides the way it paces the prep work) is that it gives you leeway in inventing details of scenario or setting that don't have an immediate explanation. Building from the bottom up means you can always create one later! Having those sorts of unexpected details, without the need for an immediate schema to fit them into, adds to the pleasure of exploration, I believe.
|
|
|
Post by howandwhy99 on Nov 26, 2016 2:26:42 GMT -6
Settings both fit within the rules of the game and are generated by causal operation, cause then effect. So most of the rules are already in the game, but I have solid parameters for every level of stuff in the game. Then we start with the Big Bang or something similar ("Loki made us") proceeding to the game's starting time with the creation of the multiverse, elemental materials into prime materials, early life to intelligent life to present time. I try and keep this mostly like the D&D game rules with an eye is rated accordingly and with broad levels and generalized abilities which could be rolled or added later, like rolling ability scores for the "Human norm". This way I don't need to know what specific third level aquatic monsters there are, much less what each one's unique ability score rolls, hit points, and treasure are, but I know this lake has is a 3rd level difficulty lake with appropriate monsters and environmental hazards as fits the already generated setting.
I like this as I find I can just add all kinds of stuff the players want, but without destroying the game balance or playability of the design behind the screen. And everything ties in with everything else already encountered, at least to some degree because it fits all the generated past design.
|
|
|
Post by Finarvyn on Nov 26, 2016 6:21:36 GMT -6
My first campaign grew as I grew in gaming. I started out with a dungeon, then created a town for adventures in between dungeon crawls, then an area map so that players could travel to and from the dungeon, then slowly expanded the map as the players started trekking into the wilderness.
Now I start with a map and sprinkle some interesting places on it with the thought that the players might choose where they want to go. Each place roughly corresponds to a dungeon or castle I have sketched out, sometimes in advance sometimes more on the fly, and they get to decide what is most intriguing to them. Another trick I like is to create a one-page or two-page "newspaper" that has some rumors and want ads and the like, and its purpose is to avoid that awkward "hang out in the tavern listening for rumors" stage of the adventure.
|
|
|
Post by Gynsburghe on Nov 28, 2016 11:32:52 GMT -6
I start with a map and a concept, bits and pieces of cultural development - then I proceed to spend the next 18 years arguing with myself about it, scrapping my notes and starting over (and over, and over). Eventually this process ends... I hope. I've run several campaigns over the last 30 years, but - other than one shots - these have all been settled into modified published settings.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2016 11:50:55 GMT -6
Thank you, I love to see what other people do, hope we hear from many more of you.
|
|
|
Post by codeman123 on Jan 7, 2017 9:20:25 GMT -6
I always make a new world everytime i start up a campaign. Usually start with a map of the lands then start going down to smaller details. From there i start imagining ecology, political structures, etc. but only loose details and as i play i make up stuff on the fly based off my players actions. Like i said though i tend to like a different world for each campaign most of them tend to be very similar.
|
|
|
Post by xerxez on Jan 15, 2017 20:19:10 GMT -6
How do I go about it? It begins with a single statement: "Hold my beer!"
I say this after running today's session of a sandbox campaign that is beginning to look like an ant farm where the ants are all on hallucinogenic substances.
Actually, I usually get enamoured of a historical period and create a map and collection of cultures from that period, create new names for their gods and peoples, add magic and monsters. I also divide the history into a number of ages and draft a world history/mythology on that. And of course draw a map.
|
|
|
Post by DungeonDevil on Jan 15, 2017 20:29:49 GMT -6
Bottom up. Small map -- no more than about 10 miles sq., one major focus location, multiple lesser locations, some subterranean sites, local history, sparsely populated with ample monster and wilderness encounter possibilities, etc.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2017 19:49:11 GMT -6
I first create the world...important cities and towns, where each race lives (mostly), important NPC's, then map it all out. I'm also big on campaign outlines, though as all experienced gm's know, there needs to be room for making changes when characters don't do what you hope or plan for them to do.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Darke on Mar 1, 2017 6:24:53 GMT -6
I usually get a concept for the region then start with a few towns and dungeons and build out from there.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2017 19:51:38 GMT -6
I usually begin with a regional map that identifies states, significant cities, and some notable landmarks. Then I draft a gazetteer that fleshes out those locations. For example, here’s a link to the map and gazetteer for a periodic Swords & Wizardry Complete game that I am running. Many of the influences should be relatively obvious. I make no claim to originality; I’m usually borrowing from a variety of historical or fictional sources. The map is done at a high enough scale to permit lots of expansion through more detailed submaps if and when desired. In the campaign before this one, I was using a different regional map and the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, which provides a set of gods. But Swords & Wizardry does not detail any gods in the rulebook, so I needed to develop a pantheon for the current region. It's meant to be a start rather than a complete list. Then I add material either as inspiration strikes or as needed. For example, I had some ideas about one particular city-state (that is not anywhere near the current campaign area), so I supplemented the gazetteer with that additional information. I have some rough notes drafted for some additional expansions. That’s how I handle the world-building process. As for the campaign specifics, that depends. In this case, the campaign currently is a mega-dungeon (set in the pyramid in the swamp south of Haven in Khmet on the map). I have about three or four levels of that dungeon detailed so far. For these levels, I have maps with numbered rooms and a bullet-point description of each room. I’m adding to this labyrinth as time allows, and have spent some time setting up some house rules for the campaign too. This description probably makes the process sound a lot more orderly than it is though. I had been mulling this regional setting over for maybe six months or so before I put pen to paper. And I had been working on the megadungeon many months before I drafted the map and gazetteer (with no intent of placing it in this particular setting).
|
|
|
Post by tkdco2 on Mar 1, 2017 23:33:20 GMT -6
I'm more of a top down kind of guy when creating a campaign, but consdering how little gaming I do nowadays, I think the bottom up approach would be better for now.
Still, creating a world is a fun exercise, even if it never sees the light of day.
|
|
|
Post by makofan on Mar 2, 2017 9:44:40 GMT -6
I draw or get a map. I find an interesting area and figure out who governs it. I figure out the main city, and then whether I want to start the players there or in the boonies. I make up a few necessary merchants, plant a few rumors, and plop the players down. As they decide things, I hurriedly design stuff on a Just-In-Time basis. Easy to do in play-by-post games. For face-to-face, I have a whole stash of modules I can plunder for ideas and customization. The rest emerges organically from player input and interaction with the GM
|
|
raisin
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 100
|
Post by raisin on Mar 21, 2017 6:46:16 GMT -6
When I do Top to Bottom, I spend hours and hours working on a functional, interesting, complex fantasy setting. Then I don't use it.
Worlds that did evolve started out as a blank state : I just ran something on the fly and with more and more sessions, the world started to shape itself.
|
|