[RedSlayer]

Hey guys I'm DMing for the first time and was putting my campaign together and i never realized how much work it is! Kudos points to the DM's out there who had to listen to every Player who said "why can't we have this?"

Anyways...

I was wondering how my fellow comrades put there world together. Where did you start? Did you put one small region together and expand (to use the DMG example) or did u build a grand pantheon of gods and crafted whole worlds, then refining with great detail?

Just a general question. Personally, id love to here about how some of your campaigns got started and developed.

[xAcidxDesirex]

Start witha single city. yet make the differences in this city suybtle yet enough to see the difference. then expound from there, religions next, large cities Kingdoms and politics. create a map and timeline of your world and it's history. it should tyake you around 100 hours to get a basic detailed kingdom, pending your own work pace. i personally create alot pf personal details for each shop that make them memorable. and i crate an NPC for each shopkeeper and his family members. alot of work but in the end well worth it.

[Rintaran]

I think there are other topics in this forum that may be of aid, so I would suggest looking at them.

Personally, I did (and am still working on) a combination of the two methods. I initially came up with a few general outlining ideas for the world, a general map, some thoughts to the races (there are 22 'civil' races), some thoughts to the gods, and a touch of the main historical incidents. With an overarching idea, I was able to come up with two major rival organizations that I intend to spread tendrils of throughout the majority of my campaign world.

Then, I focussed on one kingdom. I created a map of that kingdom, outlined it's politics, and listed it's main trade items. I gave thought to its relation with it's neighbouring countries, and possible troubles within the country. This lead naturally to the creation of a few prime figures for the country. Then I zoomed into either the capital city (if I was working at liesure), or the city my next set of PCs were going to start in (the case most of the time). Then I created the map of that city, it's key organizations and players, and figured out how it related to the rest of the country, and thus, the rest of the world.

The key thing is consistancy throughout the campaign world. What knowledge do these people possess, and how do others react to it? It's good to think of climate patterns, anthropology, and neat stuff like how 'monsters' fit into your world.

Now, all that stuff I said above is for the creation of a campaign world. You can save yourself a lot of work if you use a premade world, and just weave a campaign into it. A campaign is basically just a series of quests that eventually reach a certain goal, and it's best if the adventures tie into one another.

A campaign world can support a nigh-infinite number of campaigns and adventures. In order for it to be able to do that, you need to do that much more work.

For an average 8-hr campaign session, I spend 8 hours in preparation.

For an average kingdom in my campaign world, I usually spend between 150-300 hours working to fit it right, and then another dozen hours patching the history of the kingdom and it's neighbours so they meld properly.

Basically, it's a lot of work, and unless you're planning on spending years on this project, you may want to just work with a pre-made world, or just focus on the iddy-biddy town your PCs are starting in. You can slap a town together pretty loosely in about twenty minutes. But whether it'll be any good for having a campaign in... That's a completely different story.

[Lyinginbedmon]

I first started with the map for Einderseod, using a program called WorldMage to make it. Then I plotted out the locations of the main cities, Beldor, Hecaten, Cairo, etc. I expanded on those key points a lot, making sure that they fit into the history and the current world.

Working on history next, I used Excel to set out a timeline, featuring a few major events (Eg. the Great War) bundled together with a few minor ones (Eg. the Gate Crash of '54). I made sure the major events had a big effect on the world, but I also used the smaller ones have a profound influence.

Politics, I really hated. I made the key areas for politics Cairo, the Wind Colony, and Olympia. Then I decided what kind of government they all had, mostly democracy to ensure stability until a major influence in the party went bad. I then came up with a couple NPC Politicians, the major of which had served in an army unit, so he knew what hard times were like for the people.

After this, I just started throwing in the details of everything, where the resources for everyone came from, special services available at the bar, stuff like that, the common things I like to think of.

One thing I've always remembered: Make sure you can expand it. If you've locked down Time in your world, then you can lose a major amount of adventure ideas, if you've locked down the nations, then you've lost a major chance to use Heroes of Battle. Make sure you put lots of yeast in this tale

[blacxthornE]

Me too, started with a single city. Just expand the borders of your map beforehand. When you know where the PCs could go in the next session, design those places at least roughly. If they surprise you, just randomize on the spot, but take notes of what you've made, so that you can be consistent when they come back to the places they've visited earlier.

And... Personal opinion: always be vague when you design places, characters, etc. When you get a little too specific, the players could mess it all up. Instead, have blanks for the players to fill, so that you can design the story, the NPCs, and the places together (altho the players need not know that).

[dragonhand777]

Dido. What they all said.

I started with the landmasses and a very base I dea for my pantheon. Also, the general geography of the world and the general locals of cultures, major trade centers, and a rough idea of the world's history. I also made a decision at this time to have a fairly "high magic" world with some areas (one land mass in paticular) where there wasn't very much magic, and the majority of what magic does exist is divine.

I then focused on the region where I was going to be running my first campaign. The city, npcs, other kingdoms/settlements, and then evevtually neighboring nations (since their journey would undoubtedly lead them to these places).

I think Rin'taran made an excelent point:

Quote

Basically, it's a lot of work, and unless you're planning on spending years on this project, you may want to just work with a pre-made world, or just focus on the iddy-biddy town your PCs are starting in...

I don't see world building as something that has a begining and an end so much as it something that begins and just goes from there. At some point I would like think I have the major cities, the pantheon, the timeline, and the cosmology all worked out and to paper (so to speak). As well as having the races, cultures, trade routes, all established. However, I am certain that I will always be adding or "droping in" smaller towns, religious sites, and so forth to match or coincide with whatever campaign I am running at the time.

[Axel]

I started a game of Civilization, stopped at an arbitrary point, printed out the map and copied all my Foreign Advisor and Espionage info into a notebook.
Ok, not really. But it's an idea.
What I actually do is start out with the world, or at least the Known portion of it, already sketched out. I devise the basic political and international structures after that, using what I consider the obvious influences of geography and climate, combined with whatever I feel like adding. I make up a vague history to justify whatever it is I felt like making up. Then I use the outline I've created to build on areas the players are near. Usually I don't bother with micro-managing, typically I make things up as I go along and then incorporate them into the greater scheme. Most of my best ideas are made up on the fly.

[Jimp]

I can't really explain how I do it. I just get a notion, jot it down and expand on itlater when the inspriation comes to me. Things seems to link up and make sense as the ideas build.
1 spot in town expands to 1 city which expands to and area which expands to a region on a continent which expands to the whole continent and other cities and areas on it. Kinda like that
Sounds pretty cruddy but it's worked for me. . .

[Darius]

Same here , start with a city and start to work on the areas the PC's travel to.

1 idea also , is to get your hands on as many pre-made campaigns as you can and read them, see how theyve been put together etc AND dont be afraid to steal ideas from them to get you started , once youve got how everthing works and meshes together then you can go onto the head exploding part of comeing up with your own personal 100% original world

D

[RedSlayer]

Hey guys thanks a lot

Well I started with a pantheon, with the birth of good and evil and what not, the Anttedeluvians (spelling... ) the ancient ones, and then borrowed some gods from other campaigns to fill in the "young ones" (eventually, when the PC's get "old enough" there will be a war between the young and old but thats pretty far down the line, tho their have been some subtle hints, such as a church cold war)

From there i tried to figure out how the gods would have shaped the world, and how each race was created in a certain god's image, some races have thrived on this, others have rebelled from it (i.e. Drow)

i then came up with the world geography, continants, islands, etc. (upsidedown earth would have been interesting, if you think about it, north and south are really just matters of opinion.)

With a vague idea of nations and culutures, i am now fleshing out some of the major cities, the ones most relevant to the PC's at this time, and will expand outward, taking into account my general ideas of things to come

I enjoy hearing about your campaign-worlds, and i agree that it would have been easier to use a premade world (just bought Faerun campaign setting and Races of Faerun ) I feel that it has been a far more rewarding experiance to creat my own vision of my world, and i love being able to go so entirely in-depth into everything about it, so much more so than a pre-made campaign.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Generally, I try to think of what I'd like to see in a world. From that I create a hook or two that makes this world identifiable. In my current campaign, each race currently lives only on a plane to which it is native and none of them have met yet. Also, deities for each race live on that plane in person and are killable. Finally, to make things a little darker, there are two competing religions, both with Good teachings, but one has been corrupted and is currently instuting a Thought Police of paladins and clerics bent on "converting" everyone to their faith. By "converting" I mean killing everyone that does nto convert.

From there, I drew a map of the known world. Often looking at various fantasy artwork gives some nice ideas for cultures and the like. I am still in the process of creating the pantheon for the Humans (that's where the PCs are), but that is not as important as the sociopolitical landscape at the moment. For that reason, I've slacked off a bit on the god-building.

[blazer9870]

Most of the world i have been creating has been arched off of one point. A small island clost to the shore of a new island. The island containde a town that supported a lot of expets and commoners that where traveling to the frontier lands and making items to support them. Also the island holds a few npc adventures and a ancient hideway. I stalked the duengn with kobold and and a doppleganger. Tis island gave way to my whole world.

[Dthclaw]

I went in this order: one continent, dungeon, town, rest of first continent, back-story, other continents, major cities, filling-cracks.

Even if you're a disorganized, ADHD college student in marching band you can pull something together. Just keep working at it one piece at a time.

[Jimp]

Yeah, don't rush yourself. If the players are in one plave in your world then don't start worrying about the other parts, just focus on what they can do in that area and then whats available if they go from there to elsewhere.

[Valigon]

I to am going to be DMing for my first time, and i realy wanted to have a unique world for my campaign. so i built one. heres how i did it.

1. Gods
a. How many
b. Who
c. Relationships
d. Trajic Events
e. Reasons to create world
f. Creation of the world
g. Creation of life
2. Regions
a. How many
b. Type of Terrain
c. Who lives there
d. Major Historical Events
e. Inter relations with other Regions
f. Quirks
3. Cities
a.Same stuff as regions
4. Major Locations PCS will most likly visit

i have just completed step 2. so im now working on cites. though if the pcs wana start im fully capable of starting the campaign. steps 1 and 2 took me about 6-7 hours its not a HUGE world. but its not a TINY world. but to sum it up. i had an idea for a fun campaign. then built a history to support it. somewhat room for generational loss of information. and then built a world from there