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Author Topic: How do you make your own setting?  (Read 1712 times)

Ocule

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How do you make your own setting?
« on: July 27, 2021, 10:55:08 AM »
As per the subject, how do you go about making your own setting for a new campaign? What's your method and where do you start?

So far I've got a new setting for my home campaign and it's going through a bit of an identity crisis and we haven't even had our first real session yet. Ive got a starting town, a bbeg and some notable npcs but thats really about it. As well as a few games or movies that we, as a group, decided we kind of like so including Warhammer Fantasy, Dragon Age 1 and 2, the Witcher, Diablo II, Greyhawk, and historical folklore. Right now i'm deciding how much real world inspiration i should take versus how much heavy metal I should inject.

A few key points we have so far
-Gods are not active in the world, and there are multiple pantheons and religions. Much like the real world there is no universal truth.
-BBEG is an undead immortal blaming the current kingdom of reynes for the crimes against his people hundreds of years ago under a different king. So the kingdom is being treated as an entity in his philosophy as opposed to individuals
-Magic is dangerous and i'm assuming most people are familiar with the concept of magic but otherwise havn't actually seen it first hand.
-Heavy use of the realm of Faerie, my goblins originally come from Faerie and would normally fall under winter court though some tribes have set themselves up in the material world on a slightly more permanent basis leading to two groups of goblins. Those with strong connections to the fae and those a bit more familiar to your average RPG player.
-Social class and titles of nobility are meaningful and carry a lot of weight.
-Gunpowder is in its early stages, most kingdoms tend to focus on either bows, crossbows or firearms. We are still in bow country.


Anyway this is what i have so far i'd also like any suggestions or maybe what i'm trying to make already fits an existing setting and i should just stick my adventure in one of those
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capvideo

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2021, 12:00:33 PM »
I usually just begin with a starting town, an adventure on the edge of it (or under it, or above it, or at the center of it, whatever), and some notable NPCs, and that’s about it. Then expand as necessary, putting in more of what seems interesting. Most of the key points you list would show up either in the NPC description, the town description, or the adventure writeup.

Pat
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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2021, 12:07:41 PM »
What system are you using?

You mentioned a BBEG, religion, magic, technology, and faerie, but nothing about politics except the name of one kingdom. If you're in a Renaissance-era world, which may be the case with gunpowder and WH reference, trade and political entities might be important, if you want to that to be a focus.

Since you have a BBEG, it sounds like you're going with scripted plot arcs with a relatively defined conclusion instead of a more sandbox approach where the PCs choose their own goals. The question there is how much flexibility do you want the PCs to have?

How are you making magic dangerous? Is this just flavor, or is this part of the mechanics?

Personally, I favor bottom-up sandboxy approaches. I sketch out a starting town and the nearby environs, and then only design a few steps ahead of the PCs, depending where they want to go and their interests. I drop in plot hooks or adventure seeds, and let the players decide which they want to follow, instead of running them along a story arc.

Steven Mitchell

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2021, 12:25:46 PM »
I usually start out with a key list, much like you have, then extrapolate from there.  The important point is that not everything on your key list is necessarily set in stone.  Some of it is an agreement with the players, potentially, so you don't want a bait and switch by changing those things.  At least not without discussing with the players why you think changing it would be a good idea.

However, some of it is in the realm of inspiration.  Might turn into something useful or might get dropped.  As an example, I had a campaign several years back where the item for me was:

- Gnomes are extinct.  (Not really, they are much diminished and corrupted because of a massive memory loss spell they cast on the world that had an unexpected backlash.)

I had intended for it to be kind of a catch-all for "weird stuff happens with magic from time to time" in the game as a reminder to myself to have some consistency.  However, early on the players latched onto some of the minor, seeming discrepancies that arose and got really interested.  Over the campaign, that item evolved into a vast gnome conspiracy that implicated multiple pantheons and governments.  I didn't change anything that was established, but I did build on it gradually.

There were other items on that list that never went anywhere.  I stuck them in a drawer to use later. :D

Jam The MF

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2021, 12:43:09 PM »
One approach I like, is to draw things out on a large piece of poster board. 

The starting town / city / whatever goes in the middle.  Then ask yourself; what lies to the north, south, east, and west?  What lies to the northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest?  Now; come up with at least a paragraph or two, to describe the contents and history of each of those places.

What is the position / place / purpose / goal you might envision for the player characters, in this setting?  If the players decide to go in another direction, I'm fine with that.

Is there an enemy, or enemies?  Who or what are they?

What are the names of the city / state / territory / nation / kingdom / people / race / ruler etc.

« Last Edit: July 27, 2021, 01:02:47 PM by Jam The MF »
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GeekyBugle

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2021, 12:49:47 PM »
As per the subject, how do you go about making your own setting for a new campaign? What's your method and where do you start?

So far I've got a new setting for my home campaign and it's going through a bit of an identity crisis and we haven't even had our first real session yet. Ive got a starting town, a bbeg and some notable npcs but thats really about it. As well as a few games or movies that we, as a group, decided we kind of like so including Warhammer Fantasy, Dragon Age 1 and 2, the Witcher, Diablo II, Greyhawk, and historical folklore. Right now i'm deciding how much real world inspiration i should take versus how much heavy metal I should inject.

A few key points we have so far
-Gods are not active in the world, and there are multiple pantheons and religions. Much like the real world there is no universal truth.
-BBEG is an undead immortal blaming the current kingdom of reynes for the crimes against his people hundreds of years ago under a different king. So the kingdom is being treated as an entity in his philosophy as opposed to individuals
-Magic is dangerous and i'm assuming most people are familiar with the concept of magic but otherwise havn't actually seen it first hand.
-Heavy use of the realm of Faerie, my goblins originally come from Faerie and would normally fall under winter court though some tribes have set themselves up in the material world on a slightly more permanent basis leading to two groups of goblins. Those with strong connections to the fae and those a bit more familiar to your average RPG player.
-Social class and titles of nobility are meaningful and carry a lot of weight.
-Gunpowder is in its early stages, most kingdoms tend to focus on either bows, crossbows or firearms. We are still in bow country.


Anyway this is what i have so far i'd also like any suggestions or maybe what i'm trying to make already fits an existing setting and i should just stick my adventure in one of those

>Most people haven't seen magic
>Faeries in the world

Choose one.

On the more general question:

Is this your own world whole cloth?

Seems like it.

I start top to bottom, if gods exist and interact with the world, then how would that world look like? Take the Greek pantheon for example, if it's real then one would expect to see Mons Olympus and maybe even some people have climbed it.

Satyrs would be in the forest seducing nimphs (yes I know this is Roman), etc.

And people would make sacrifices/pray to their gods and get something in return.

Since those gods were jealous and easily offended one would expect to see the results of their bickering around.

For the kind of world you seem to be building I would suggest picking up Pundit's Lion & Dragon for inspiration although in his world God exists and so does magic but it's not your vanilla D&D.
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Ghostmaker

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2021, 01:39:08 PM »
Throw darts at a grid, randomly incorporate or adapt things that I think are amusing or interesting.

Semaj Khan

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2021, 03:08:08 PM »
I smoke opium, pass out and dream it all up. Then upon awakening, I hasten to write it all down in verse. More often than not, a friend will interrupt me and by the time he leaves I will have forgotten the rest.

This is usually irritating. 8)
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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2021, 03:38:00 PM »
I smoke opium, pass out and dream it all up. Then upon awakening, I hasten to write it all down in verse. More often than not, a friend will interrupt me and by the time he leaves I will have forgotten the rest.

This is usually irritating. 8)
At least you completed the ancient mariner sourcebook.

Steven Mitchell

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2021, 04:11:04 PM »
I smoke opium, pass out and dream it all up. Then upon awakening, I hasten to write it all down in verse. More often than not, a friend will interrupt me and by the time he leaves I will have forgotten the rest.

This is usually irritating. 8)
At least you completed the ancient mariner sourcebook.

But was time travel and a wayward phone booth involved?  Where any sofas stuck in stairwells?  :D

Chris24601

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2021, 04:50:36 PM »
For home games where we want an original setting we generally begin with a round of “Dawn of Worlds” (a shared world building game) with the proviso that the GM can change whatever they want from the results afterwards.

This gives them a general roadmap for things the players are and are not interested in. Ex. if no one even thought to have a god create the elves, then odds are no one is interested in plots revolving around elves. If someone spent almost all their points on their turns establishing the existence of dwarves and an intricate history for them, they’re obviously interested in seeing campaign elements related to dwarves and their history.

Cave Bear

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2021, 07:06:47 PM »
Start with the food people eat, then think about where it comes from.

Then do the same for  magic, gods, or robots or whatever.

*edit*
To be a little more serious, populate your world with walls.

You want your world interesting to journey in, and what makes journeys interesting is their obstacles. What's bound to get in the player's way?
« Last Edit: July 27, 2021, 07:17:22 PM by Cave Bear »

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #12 on: July 28, 2021, 10:23:34 AM »
As per the subject, how do you go about making your own setting for a new campaign? What's your method and where do you start?

So far I've got a new setting for my home campaign and it's going through a bit of an identity crisis and we haven't even had our first real session yet. Ive got a starting town, a bbeg and some notable npcs but thats really about it. As well as a few games or movies that we, as a group, decided we kind of like so including Warhammer Fantasy, Dragon Age 1 and 2, the Witcher, Diablo II, Greyhawk, and historical folklore. Right now i'm deciding how much real world inspiration i should take versus how much heavy metal I should inject.

A few key points we have so far
-Gods are not active in the world, and there are multiple pantheons and religions. Much like the real world there is no universal truth.
-BBEG is an undead immortal blaming the current kingdom of reynes for the crimes against his people hundreds of years ago under a different king. So the kingdom is being treated as an entity in his philosophy as opposed to individuals
-Magic is dangerous and i'm assuming most people are familiar with the concept of magic but otherwise havn't actually seen it first hand.
-Heavy use of the realm of Faerie, my goblins originally come from Faerie and would normally fall under winter court though some tribes have set themselves up in the material world on a slightly more permanent basis leading to two groups of goblins. Those with strong connections to the fae and those a bit more familiar to your average RPG player.
-Social class and titles of nobility are meaningful and carry a lot of weight.
-Gunpowder is in its early stages, most kingdoms tend to focus on either bows, crossbows or firearms. We are still in bow country.

Anyway this is what i have so far i'd also like any suggestions or maybe what i'm trying to make already fits an existing setting and i should just stick my adventure in one of those

I'd suggest starting small. Just a village and a few hexes around it. goblins could be a threat but the BBEG is just a rumor (or a distant thought) at this point. then, just build as you go, and integrate parts that you like from existing settings (your ideas seems roughly compatible with classic settings).

If you're into Dark Fantasy, I wrote a small PDF with a few ideas on Dark Fantasy Settings:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/304138/Dark-Fantasy-Settings
Chaos Factory Books  - Dark fantasy RPGs and more!

Methods & Madness - my  D&D 5e / Old School / Game design blog.

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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #13 on: July 28, 2021, 02:04:40 PM »
I start with what kind of stories do you want to tell.  A scruffy merchant/pirate game is going to have different criteria from ruin explorers or courtly intrigue.
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Re: How do you make your own setting?
« Reply #14 on: July 28, 2021, 02:26:18 PM »
I smoke opium, pass out and dream it all up. Then upon awakening, I hasten to write it all down in verse. More often than not, a friend will interrupt me and by the time he leaves I will have forgotten the rest.

This is usually irritating. 8)
At least you completed the ancient mariner sourcebook.

But was time travel and a wayward phone booth involved?  Where any sofas stuck in stairwells?  :D
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