This post is meant to provide guidance for those who wish to improve their ability to create and run tabletop games. This particular installment is going to focus on the initial task of designing a fantasy setting or campaign world. Obviously, many Dungeon Masters prefer to set their games in worlds found in published setting books. There is nothing wrong with using published material, but I would think that most DMs at some point or another will try their hand at world building. Unfortunately, many fail.
1. You are building a campaign setting, not writing a novel.
These are two different skill sets with two different goals. Build a world to explore, not a story to entertain.
2. Be vague.
A friend once consulted me on a campaign he was putting together. He informed me that the adventure would take place during the Fourth Age of Man. He asked me how much he should write about the first three ages. I would mention that the characters were living in the Fourth Age of Man and not say another word about it. Every once in a while, I would drop a tidbit about how a ruined temple was build in the Third Age of Man, but rarely would I bring it up. Any details that might be relevant to the story would be written down and secreted away in case someone made a Knowledge (history) check, but I would never bother writing out a historical narrative for the players (who wouldn't read it anyway).
3. Leave parts of the map blank.
As per above, you do not need to over-explain the geography any more than you need to over-explain the history. Focus on the areas that the party will actually be visiting. Only drop hints about the rest of the world, as it won't be known to the players anyway. Remember that Knowledge skills only give you information about things that are actually possible to know.
4. Stay focused.
This rule is especially important early in the campaign. Create the Barony of Blackwood. Mention that it is part of the Kingdom of Elsimoor. Focus on the barony. Those are the details the adventurers will need. Later on, the rest of the kingdom might become important. At higher levels, the rest of the world might be open to adventure in. At very high levels the party might leave the world behind and adventure on the planes. However, for most of the campaign, the party will be spending time in a limited area.
5. No one gives two fucks about your NPCs.
In fact, most players won't give a single solitary fuck about your NPCs. An NPC is just a somewhat friendly monster. Make your NPCs quirky. Give them interesting traits. Understand that at some point, no matter how cool you think he is, this character will be known as "the one-eyed guy who we met at the tavern." Also, the players might kill him.
6. As per above, the NPCs should not have a starring role in the campaign.
For the love of all the gods, do not make them the end all and be all of the events that unfold. NPCs can have one of the following roles in a campaign: Hiring the party as sell-swords. Knowing useful but limited information. Getting kidnapped. Making friends with the party right before being brutally murdered. Being a jerk that gets robbed and murdered by the adventurers.
7. Player characters are special.
Like really special. So special that some games have a whole different set of rules for everyone who isn't a PC. Let's be crystal clear. The conscripts in that army are commoners. Their leader is an aristocrat. The captain of the royal guard is a warrior. Most of all, the local temple is run by a priest, not a cleric. Being empowered by the gods to bring the dead back to life is a BIG FUCKING DEAL! People who can do miracles like that get a religion named after them, they don't hang around the prayer hall waiting for you to drag your dead friend through the door and toss him a bag of gold. Returning a slain college to life should involve more effort than swinging through the drive thru for a burger. A quest for an ancient scroll, a deal with the crazed swamp witch, that kind of thing.
In general, the only NPC s with full-on character classes should be "bosses" or other powerful bad guys. If everyone you run into is an adventurer with a +1 longsword, then you don't feel special. "Why are you begging us to go slay that dragon? Doesn't the king have a super-badass fighter, a powerful court wizard, and a guy that can FUCKING RAISE THE DEAD?
8. Some things are so special that only the very special PCs get to play with them.
Magic weapons, scrolls, potions, and pet dragons are only the start. How about gold coins? Books? A blanket that doesn't have any holes in it? Most people in the fantasy world have never even seen one of those, let alone had one. Any world that resembles an ancient or medieval world is going to deal in barter, remember its history with stories and songs, and be awfully cold at night. The players find stashes of gold coins and fabulous jewels. The players wield amazing weapons of ancient power. NPCs do not. Sure the noble lord will have a box of gold, a scribe and a few books on the shelf, but nothing like what the player characters will have.
9. On that subject, no reasonable person will expect the DM to be an expert on the cultures of long ago.
On the other hand, no reasonable DM is going to bore the players to death with lectures on how the ancient world worked. However, a little knowledge on the subject wouldn't kill anyone. Wealth is measured in land, not gold. Why? You can't eat gold. Serving a king or lord is an honor, not a job. Why? Because if you only fight for rewards, someone else can always make you a better offer, and no one wants to take that chance. That's why friendship and family ties mean so much to those in power.
10. Hide your sources.
Understand that a fantasy world is not going to be a magical mirror of Medieval Europe, Rome, or what not. The best campaign worlds will be influenced by the real world without those influences showing through. Sure, you have the addition of magic and monsters, but there is more to it than that.
12. Turn cliches on their head.
Maybe the orcs in your world aren't small bands of wandering marauders. Let's face it, that's boring and not very scary. What if orcs take a hint from the Aztecs and live in warring city-states. Sure they practice slavery and eat people's hearts, but now they know math! That's way more interesting than the typical orc war party, and far tougher to battle against.
1. You are building a campaign setting, not writing a novel.
These are two different skill sets with two different goals. Build a world to explore, not a story to entertain.
2. Be vague.
A friend once consulted me on a campaign he was putting together. He informed me that the adventure would take place during the Fourth Age of Man. He asked me how much he should write about the first three ages. I would mention that the characters were living in the Fourth Age of Man and not say another word about it. Every once in a while, I would drop a tidbit about how a ruined temple was build in the Third Age of Man, but rarely would I bring it up. Any details that might be relevant to the story would be written down and secreted away in case someone made a Knowledge (history) check, but I would never bother writing out a historical narrative for the players (who wouldn't read it anyway).
3. Leave parts of the map blank.
As per above, you do not need to over-explain the geography any more than you need to over-explain the history. Focus on the areas that the party will actually be visiting. Only drop hints about the rest of the world, as it won't be known to the players anyway. Remember that Knowledge skills only give you information about things that are actually possible to know.
4. Stay focused.
This rule is especially important early in the campaign. Create the Barony of Blackwood. Mention that it is part of the Kingdom of Elsimoor. Focus on the barony. Those are the details the adventurers will need. Later on, the rest of the kingdom might become important. At higher levels, the rest of the world might be open to adventure in. At very high levels the party might leave the world behind and adventure on the planes. However, for most of the campaign, the party will be spending time in a limited area.
5. No one gives two fucks about your NPCs.
In fact, most players won't give a single solitary fuck about your NPCs. An NPC is just a somewhat friendly monster. Make your NPCs quirky. Give them interesting traits. Understand that at some point, no matter how cool you think he is, this character will be known as "the one-eyed guy who we met at the tavern." Also, the players might kill him.
6. As per above, the NPCs should not have a starring role in the campaign.
For the love of all the gods, do not make them the end all and be all of the events that unfold. NPCs can have one of the following roles in a campaign: Hiring the party as sell-swords. Knowing useful but limited information. Getting kidnapped. Making friends with the party right before being brutally murdered. Being a jerk that gets robbed and murdered by the adventurers.
7. Player characters are special.
Like really special. So special that some games have a whole different set of rules for everyone who isn't a PC. Let's be crystal clear. The conscripts in that army are commoners. Their leader is an aristocrat. The captain of the royal guard is a warrior. Most of all, the local temple is run by a priest, not a cleric. Being empowered by the gods to bring the dead back to life is a BIG FUCKING DEAL! People who can do miracles like that get a religion named after them, they don't hang around the prayer hall waiting for you to drag your dead friend through the door and toss him a bag of gold. Returning a slain college to life should involve more effort than swinging through the drive thru for a burger. A quest for an ancient scroll, a deal with the crazed swamp witch, that kind of thing.
In general, the only NPC s with full-on character classes should be "bosses" or other powerful bad guys. If everyone you run into is an adventurer with a +1 longsword, then you don't feel special. "Why are you begging us to go slay that dragon? Doesn't the king have a super-badass fighter, a powerful court wizard, and a guy that can FUCKING RAISE THE DEAD?
8. Some things are so special that only the very special PCs get to play with them.
Magic weapons, scrolls, potions, and pet dragons are only the start. How about gold coins? Books? A blanket that doesn't have any holes in it? Most people in the fantasy world have never even seen one of those, let alone had one. Any world that resembles an ancient or medieval world is going to deal in barter, remember its history with stories and songs, and be awfully cold at night. The players find stashes of gold coins and fabulous jewels. The players wield amazing weapons of ancient power. NPCs do not. Sure the noble lord will have a box of gold, a scribe and a few books on the shelf, but nothing like what the player characters will have.
9. On that subject, no reasonable person will expect the DM to be an expert on the cultures of long ago.
On the other hand, no reasonable DM is going to bore the players to death with lectures on how the ancient world worked. However, a little knowledge on the subject wouldn't kill anyone. Wealth is measured in land, not gold. Why? You can't eat gold. Serving a king or lord is an honor, not a job. Why? Because if you only fight for rewards, someone else can always make you a better offer, and no one wants to take that chance. That's why friendship and family ties mean so much to those in power.
10. Hide your sources.
Understand that a fantasy world is not going to be a magical mirror of Medieval Europe, Rome, or what not. The best campaign worlds will be influenced by the real world without those influences showing through. Sure, you have the addition of magic and monsters, but there is more to it than that.
12. Turn cliches on their head.
Maybe the orcs in your world aren't small bands of wandering marauders. Let's face it, that's boring and not very scary. What if orcs take a hint from the Aztecs and live in warring city-states. Sure they practice slavery and eat people's hearts, but now they know math! That's way more interesting than the typical orc war party, and far tougher to battle against.
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