Building Campaign settings?

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Is it better to build small areas in detail and them put them all togeather
or to create the entire world, and then design in detail?

 

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Kaynith wrote:
>
> Is it better to build small areas in detail and them put them all togeather

yes.

> or to create the entire world, and then design in detail?

too grand a scheme. I tried it this way with my recent campaign, and far
too many areas are underdeveloped (the party likes to travel)

it's good to know where your grand scheme is going, but worry about it
country/area by country/area.

IMO, anyway.

--
Gene Poole

Signature sold separately

 

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Kaynith wrote:
> Is it better to build small areas in detail and them put them all togeather
> or to create the entire world, and then design in detail?

Everything depnds on how you do handle your NPCs, but I think it's always good
to make the base design of the world where you place the most important
objects, then design the areas where the campaign will start and of course the
areas closest around.

If you have got this far, then you need "only" create new areas a bit ahead of
time when needed.

But of course the best is to create the whole world, it's history first, this
way you don't have to just make up important information on the fly during the
gameplay.


//Aho

 

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"J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> wrote in message
news:c55dgb$2ntptd$1@ID-130698.news.uni-berlin.de...
| Kaynith wrote:
| > Is it better to build small areas in detail and them put them all
togeather
| > or to create the entire world, and then design in detail?
|
| Everything depnds on how you do handle your NPCs, but I think it's always
good
| to make the base design of the world where you place the most important
| objects, then design the areas where the campaign will start and of
course the
| areas closest around.
|
| If you have got this far, then you need "only" create new areas a bit
ahead of
| time when needed.
|
| But of course the best is to create the whole world, it's history first,
this
| way you don't have to just make up important information on the fly
during the
| gameplay.

But if you opt for the make it up as you go along from a small area and
build from there, fleshing out NPC's and lore as they move about. Make sure
you take clear notes and write down the important NPC's and what they know.
You never know when the players may go back to the individual or if they
will be brought back in at a later time in the game. And when you have time
after the game ends till the next session, build on what you have created
in the last session and work from it. If it was an excellent lore bit, work
on it some more, even if you don't plan on using it right away, at least
you have fleshed it out some and have it ready when you do decide to use
it. The flesh out method seems to work very well in my game in areas that I
haven't detailed in the beginning and it allows to keep the idea that I
just introduced fresh in my mind to build on it from there or decide that
it wasn't something prevelant to any future event. But a notebook to scribe
in your ideas during the fly, is a great tool to have. Good luck and
journey well!

--
Tarrax Ironwolf
psyberwolfREM@VEiwon.com
-------
"We played Dungeons & Dragons for three hours! Then I was slain by an
elf." -- Homer Simpson

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.adnd (More info?)

Tarrax Ironwolf wrote:

> But if you opt for the make it up as you go along from a small area and
> build from there, fleshing out NPC's and lore as they move about. Make sure
> you take clear notes and write down the important NPC's and what they know.
> You never know when the players may go back to the individual or if they
> will be brought back in at a later time in the game. And when you have time
> after the game ends till the next session, build on what you have created
> in the last session and work from it. If it was an excellent lore bit, work
> on it some more, even if you don't plan on using it right away, at least
> you have fleshed it out some and have it ready when you do decide to use
> it. The flesh out method seems to work very well in my game in areas that I
> haven't detailed in the beginning and it allows to keep the idea that I
> just introduced fresh in my mind to build on it from there or decide that
> it wasn't something prevelant to any future event. But a notebook to scribe
> in your ideas during the fly, is a great tool to have. Good luck and
> journey well!

I must say that I'm not that much for creating up things during playtime, as
thise usually are less good than when you have had the time to think and try a
bit different options. IMHO everything should be prepared for the current play
session, I don't mean only the persons that you have thought of that the PCs
would meet, but all the "important" characters that are in the area and that
the PCs would think of going to ask or so... In the same manner the local
history needs to have a read line that can be used, as you will never know
what your players will ask and want to know more about and those things may
have nothing to do with the adventure.

//Aho

 

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Archived from groups: alt.games.adnd (More info?)

"J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> wrote in message
news:c55dgb$2ntptd$1@ID-130698.news.uni-berlin.de...
> Kaynith wrote:
> > Is it better to build small areas in detail and them put them all
togeather
> > or to create the entire world, and then design in detail?
>
> Everything depnds on how you do handle your NPCs, but I think it's always
good
> to make the base design of the world where you place the most important
> objects, then design the areas where the campaign will start and of course
the
> areas closest around.
>
> If you have got this far, then you need "only" create new areas a bit
ahead of
> time when needed.
>
> But of course the best is to create the whole world, it's history first,
this
> way you don't have to just make up important information on the fly during
the
> gameplay.

This is good advice. When I go about creating a world I start with some
basic ideas and then build the framework - worldmap larger than they are
likely to travel in within the first year, some major characters and of
course cities and towns. I then build incrementally and thematically. So if
I have a quest or mission then I identify where that will take them, I note
anything along the way that might distract them (sometimes working
distractions from things I don't want to develop yet). The biggest
distractions that I feel you should prepare are cities and towns -
adventurers usually want to replenish their stocks. So basically I jot out a
few notes about each city or town near their current mission. I rate the
likelyhood of things like magic shops, weaponssmiths, leather workers, etc.
Then go on to flesh the rest of the mission out (dungeon, keep, baddies,
etc.)

Each time they travel off in a direction I revisit and renew the
distractions until they are properly fleshed out. I can do this in tandem
with the adventure and it lets the settings evolve as the campaign evolves.
It also lets me weave plots and subplots into everything, which makes the
adventure more enjoyable for everyone. It also lets me spring up new sites
fairly easily within the current framework without arousing suspicions that
the site wasn't there to begin with.

Currently I have the worldmap 80% fleshed out in our current campaign, and
have some prep on the next chunk of worldmap. No shortage of adventure
(we've been playing this one for almost 2 years now I think).

peace,
Frank

 

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One other thing I found helpful is building a Who's Who guide to my world. I
keep it handy and reuse people as much as possible. You should see them when
they feel they've heard a name before and go digging through their notes -
keeps them on their toes.

Also at the first of each session I have the players recount the last
session (over the campfire if possible). This lets me know how they
interpreted the events - it is usually quite different than what I had
intended

Frank

 

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Thanks again guys...It's been a long time since I've built a campaign...I'm
getting the hang off it again...