GradonSilverton Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 This is a question that I seem to see popping up on numerous boards from WOTC to Rpgnet... So I thought I'd bring it here. There are many people who have put much time and effort into creating campaign worlds for fantasy games (and many more genre's). Some keep it simple with the whole intention of "create as you go" just so they can have something to game in. Others have spent years of their lives fleshing out worlds that the hope to someday write novels in, get published, etc. The question that I keep finding is on the lines of... I'm looking to create a world for my fantasy campaign. The problem is that I have no idea where to start. I also have no idea what to concentrate on: history, politics, scope, details, etc. Can anyone offer help as to where I should start? Espically those who have created before! I myself have spent some time on creating a world and have decided to put all those damnded post-it notes I scratched on at school, work, etc. into a nice printable format (and who knows, maybe when I get my 250000 word document together, fit into the writers guidelines, maybe I can find a buyer for say 7 to 8 thousand.. but thats another stiry all together). I've offered suggestions when I see these questions, but there always seems to be a wide scope of opinions. So I thought I'd make this post 2 parts... #1 Where would you reccomend someone start for their world creation? #2 What worlds have you created? And if you have a web page for it, why not post it for all to see. Lets see what everyone has to say... who knows, maybe we can get those people that make a living doing this to guide us mortal fools. Disclaimer Notes : Everyone who reads, post, links, or travels to a link from this thread... please understand the Intellectual property rights should be adhered to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tclynch Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 Hummm, well...I'd look at some published (paper & websites) to get a feel as to how they did it. I think I would start small with a city or town and the surrounding area... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelijal Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 World Creation Do a web search on "world creation" or "world building." You'll be amazed at what comes up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Hiemforth Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 Check local game stores, Ebay, other online retailers, etc. until you can track down a copy of AD&D's World Builder's Guidebook. It proposes seven possible approaches to assembling a fantasy world, and advantages and disadvantages of each. It also covers topics like putting terrain together realistically, how to avoid making ecosystems too predator-heavy, the effects of magic on all this, etc. It's certainly not the be-all and end-all of fantasy world creation, but it is an excellent primer to the issues you have to consider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 The biggest problem I've encountered in detailed worldbuilding is a chicken-and-egg issue. How do you determine the place names of a place without developing a history for it? How do you develop a history without having named anything? How do you work the history backwards from where you want the story to take place? The most success I've had so far was to start with a really vague 3-way map: cultures, races, and climate, determining in a general way where I wanted them to be in relation to each other. Then, with some idea of what languages I was going to have, I went ahead and just started writing down names for all kinds of common stuff in the various languages. (This is the hardest part for me, because I'm just not good at pulling good fantasy-sounding names off the top of my head.) Armed with the general map and a partial lexicon in each language I am then able to flesh out the histories and cultures. After that it's just a matter of keyboard time. Once you reach a certain critical mass it gets pretty easy to put down more stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lensman Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 Re: World Creation Originally posted by GradonSilverton #1 Where would you reccomend someone start for their world creation? #2 What worlds have you created? And if you have a web page for it, why not post it for all to see. #1: I say start at the top and work down. Gods, Magic, Tech, Races, Environment, Culture, History. For each of these create: Emotional Theme, Plot theme, Mechanics Then do the "details" as you go. Politics, Infrastructure, local flavor, Personalities Obviously this scales based on the campaign desired. If you intend to run City-State of the God Emporer then your location is relatively narrow. Want to run a World spanning, plane shifting, polynational campaign, much more work required. Beginning players, to the system, or veterans? Characters are paupers or Princes? #2 Attached is a write up for players to my Seven Kingdoms campaign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterVimes Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 Originally posted by Old Man The biggest problem I've encountered in detailed worldbuilding is a chicken-and-egg issue. How do you determine the place names of a place without developing a history for it? How do you develop a history without having named anything? How do you work the history backwards from where you want the story to take place? Uusally what I do is strat with the topographical map. Then I make a copy of it in B&W and plant the first tribes of each race and name those places, then I try and develop migration patterns and as people move over places, the names change. It's still kind of artificial, but if you make notes as it goes then the process seems more organic. AND the players are inpressed when you tell them that: "This is London, it takes its name from the latin Londinium (when the roman's ruled here), before than it was lun doon..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 I tend to start with a map as well, but I think the best idea is to start with whatever "hook" captures your imagination. In terms of knowing what to do, I highly recommend getting a copy of the Forgotten Realms base setting book. Forget the content; the form in which it is presented makes a perfect template for worldbuilders. My technique for worldbuilding goes more or less as follows: 1) Initial world idea: create whatever is inspiring you to make this world. For me, it's usually a map. 2) Make a rough pass at the rest of the world: gods, magic, history, races, nations, and other unique aspects. A couple of pages max. 3) Pick one of these aspects and expand upon it. 4) Repeat #2 with a little more detail, and taking into account the detail you just added in step 3. 5) Repeat 3-4 until you're done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seenar Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 I start with a theme and and tone. Pretty much I build the universe around the Game I want to run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 I start by deciding the genre I want to run. Example: Fantasy Then I think about the story elements I want: Odd races, lost cities, adventurous tone, etc. Then I think about how such a world could come to be. Post apocalypse leads to a rise in a new "magic" technology. Mutations have created new races. Then I begin writing details. History, special game mechanics, magic systems and so forth, all geared to support the game world as I envisioned it. I may repeat some of these steps several times, revising as I go until I feel comfortable that I have "got it right." Then I begin with specifics: Maps, cities, prominent NPCs, recent detailed history. Finally, I write a short fiction piece to see if the details all work thematically. The last world I created was The Savage Earth The inital fiction piece (which is admittedly heavy on exposition) can be found here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted February 24, 2003 Report Share Posted February 24, 2003 Oddly enough, I start by playing video games. I have three worlds that I want to develop. Just for me so the going is slow. I have based these three worlds on the following games. 1. Breath of FIre 2. Suikoden 3. Final Fantasy IX Original? Nope. But I have thought of cobbling together what I like about the consol RPG's that I like so much and put them to a pen and paper setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GradonSilverton Posted February 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2003 Since we've had a decient number of replies to this thread...and hopefully more to follow... I thought that I might throw up some of the stuff I'm working on in a cheap looking web page... The link will take you to a document, that when finished is designed to represent a Book put together by an extremely prominent Mage. For those that have read my Help with This Armor thread.... the Order the Mage belongs to is the one designed to protect the Armor in question, along with a few other Things.... http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=574 ...This book is to represent the 1st complete account and history of Nalrius..... Any help or ideas are appreciated... anything that is added as creation goes along that comes from suggestions made to me via email or on this board will recieve due credit in the notes at the end.... I will update it from time to time as I get my notes together and on digital paper... http://webpages.charter.net/shawnawatkins/Nalrius/Index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelijal Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 Originally posted by Derek Hiemforth Check local game stores, Ebay, other online retailers, etc. until you can track down a copy of AD&D's World Builder's Guidebook. It proposes seven possible approaches to assembling a fantasy world, and advantages and disadvantages of each. It also covers topics like putting terrain together realistically, how to avoid making ecosystems too predator-heavy, the effects of magic on all this, etc. It's certainly not the be-all and end-all of fantasy world creation, but it is an excellent primer to the issues you have to consider. The World Builder's Guidebook can be found as a $5 PDF download at SVGames: http://www.svgames.com/tsr9532esd.html. I've just bought it, but haven't had a chance to look thru it. SVGames has an odd setup; you buy the first part of a split PDF file, and the other part(s) and the winsplit utility to join the parts are downloaded from the product page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 Originally posted by Nelijal I've just bought it, but haven't had a chance to look thru it. SVGames has an odd setup; you buy the first part of a split PDF file, and the other part(s) and the winsplit utility to join the parts are downloaded from the product page. I was all set to buy it until I read that last line. I avoid windows for a reason. Oh well, that's $5 they won't get from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelijal Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 Originally posted by Old Man I was all set to buy it until I read that last line. I avoid windows for a reason. Oh well, that's $5 they won't get from me. So, you're a Linux man? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GradonSilverton Posted February 25, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 Originally posted by Nelijal So, you're a Linux man? Hey we dont serve your kind on this board mister...... We enjoy the do it our way or no way mentality! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 Linux is great. If you like writing your own drivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GradonSilverton Posted February 25, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 Originally posted by D-Man Linux is great. If you like writing your own drivers. Da...da...chink! Thanks everyone.... He'll be here all week! And remember to please tip your waitress!!!! Goodnight!!!! Funny stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 Originally posted by Nelijal So, you're a Linux man? No, I'm not real fond of trying to make various parts of Linux work with each other, and keeping my libraries up to date, while debugging the hot window manager of the day. That's actually the complaint I had/have with the many versions of Windows, back when I used to adminster a 2000/NT/98/95 network. They're just too prone to bit rot and registry/DLL corruption, and there's nothing you can do but reinstall (which is, literally, what MS tech support used to tell me after three hours of tweaks and reboots. At $150/hr.) And then of course you had to install the correct service pack (remember, only the odd numbered ones work), hoping that the software you need to run will work with said pack. Maybe ME/XP is better, but I'm not willing to risk my blood pressure to find out. I prefer Mac for the desktop and Solaris in the data center. Each of them have their issues, but they very rarely crash. In fact we have a problem with customer Solaris boxes that stay up so long people forget they exist. "Hi, I'm here to fix your mail server?" "Yeah, um, you know, we're not sure exactly where it is..." o_O Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelijal Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 Originally posted by D-Man Linux is great. If you like writing your own drivers. You can do that in BASIC, right? Originally posted by Old Man No, I'm not real fond of trying to make various parts of Linux work with each other, and keeping my libraries up to date, while debugging the hot window manager of the day. That's actually the complaint I had/have with the many versions of Windows, back when I used to adminster a 2000/NT/98/95 network. They're just too prone to bit rot and registry/DLL corruption, and there's nothing you can do but reinstall (which is, literally, what MS tech support used to tell me after three hours of tweaks and reboots. At $150/hr.) And then of course you had to install the correct service pack (remember, only the odd numbered ones work), hoping that the software you need to run will work with said pack. Maybe ME/XP is better, but I'm not willing to risk my blood pressure to find out. I prefer Mac for the desktop and Solaris in the data center. Each of them have their issues, but they very rarely crash. In fact we have a problem with customer Solaris boxes that stay up so long people forget they exist. "Hi, I'm here to fix your mail server?" "Yeah, um, you know, we're not sure exactly where it is..." o_O Actually, the Linux comment was just to bait you into admitting you're a Mac user . I'll spare you all the Mac jokes I use with my sister-in-law. Don't get me wrong, Bill Gates isn't on my Christmas Card list or anything, Microsoft's reach has far exceeded their grasp on some OS concepts, and I'm no huge fan of the W.I.M.P. interface (Windows, Icons, Mice, Pointers). I just like being able to shop for software in the whole computer store, not just one shelf in the corner . And didn't Bill steal the W.I.M.P. interface from the Mac to begin with? And thanks for reminding me, it's about time to do a clean reinstall of XP Home; XP is better in that regard than previous versions, but it still collects garbage. What was this thread about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 spoo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 Originally posted by Nelijal What was this thread about? Something about Bill Gates and his world empire...or something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted February 26, 2003 Report Share Posted February 26, 2003 The thread This thread started about how to build your own fantasy world. Which evidently people have been quite successful in accomplishing. Unfortunately they have also decided to live there.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nelijal Posted February 26, 2003 Report Share Posted February 26, 2003 Re: The thread Originally posted by Michael Hopcroft This thread started about how to build your own fantasy world. Which evidently people have been quite successful in accomplishing. Unfortunately they have also decided to live there.... Temipel vesuidik! Come say that to my face! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GradonSilverton Posted February 26, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2003 Originally posted by Nelijal What was this thread about? It WAS a thread about giving information on building a world from scratch for someone about to undertake the task for the 1st time..... along with offering ideas for those who have created before.... along with a place to link, share, tell about your created world.... Everybody come back to the flock! Its OK! Just come back to the Flock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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