The Art and Science of Worldbuilding For Gameplay [+]

[Crimson Longinus]

My most recent BW play has been two players, co-GMed. The characters goals pertain predominantly to revenge (in one case) and acquiring wealth to buy a ship (in the other case). The action of the game has focused primarily on small scale robbery, exploiting opportunities that present themselves to vagrants living on the docks.

I don't really see this as adventure.

You presumably understand what is generally meant by "adventure" in the context of RPG, so why this sematic quibble?

 

[aco175]

Most everything I spend time developing is tied to the current campaign I'm running so that is campaign notes. It seems that the next campaign can use the same information so that it is also world building. For example, last campaign used the Against the Giants adventure and I placed it near Phandalin. One of the parts involved going to the Starmetal Hills and the fire giant dungeon. I expanded on the paragraph I found online and made some terrain, NPCs, wandering encounters and stats for the Uthgardt barbarians found there. That helped that campaign but I still have it in my new campaign if the PCs want to go that way or if offered something to go there for.

I have also taken NPCs and developed them a bit. Some are given a bit of background and motivation but most are given hooks or secrets that can interact with the PCs. Again most is for the current campaign or location the group is in or near. I cannot say that I really think about the guildmaster in the Dales or the cousin of the King of Tethyr. It might be a good thread or webpage where people can create NPCs for places like a Wiki or something. Probably have one someplace.

 

[Reynard]

Most everything I spend time developing is tied to the current campaign I'm running so that is campaign notes. It seems that the next campaign can use the same information so that it is also world building. For example, last campaign used the Against the Giants adventure and I placed it near Phandalin. One of the parts involved going to the Starmetal Hills and the fire giant dungeon. I expanded on the paragraph I found online and made some terrain, NPCs, wandering encounters and stats for the Uthgardt barbarians found there. That helped that campaign but I still have it in my new campaign if the PCs want to go that way or if offered something to go there for.

I have also taken NPCs and developed them a bit. Some are given a bit of background and motivation but most are given hooks or secrets that can interact with the PCs. Again most is for the current campaign or location the group is in or near. I cannot say that I really think about the guildmaster in the Dales or the cousin of the King of Tethyr. It might be a good thread or webpage where people can create NPCs for places like a Wiki or something. Probably have one someplace.

Out of curiosity, do you intentionally go back and modify or make notes based on what happens and incorporate that -- sort of taking it from adventure prep into the realm of world building for future use? Or do you just keep it in your pocket as it were?

 

[aco175]

Out of curiosity, do you intentionally go back and modify or make notes based on what happens and incorporate that -- sort of taking it from adventure prep into the realm of world building for future use? Or do you just keep it in your pocket as it were?

I tend to just keep them on the computer until I need them for another adventure. I can remember enough of the stuff I made so that if something happens I can wing it until I prep for the next game. The example I gave earlier about the giants, I would not go back and make notes about King Snure being dead and the other giant is now in charge until I needed to. There is nobody that I need to update this for. I know and my table knows. Maybe if I was making a DMsGuild product that was the Phandalin region year 1500 I would need to go through things to have it all in one place.

I should do that for around the town since the Essentials box added so many more location to the ones I already created around the town. there were farms and small hamlets of gold seekers and old ruined forts and such. All the specific locations could be handy. Although the players do not know specifically where things are, only towards the road or towards the mountains and generally I can shift around.

 

[Reynard]

I tend to just keep them on the computer until I need them for another adventure. I can remember enough of the stuff I made so that if something happens I can wing it until I prep for the next game. The example I gave earlier about the giants, I would not go back and make notes about King Snure being dead and the other giant is now in charge until I needed to. There is nobody that I need to update this for. I know and my table knows. Maybe if I was making a DMsGuild product that was the Phandalin region year 1500 I would need to go through things to have it all in one place.

My brain is a sieve. I would have to update that just because I would inevitably forget. yes, even something as big as that.

I should do that for around the town since the Essentials box added so many more location to the ones I already created around the town. there were farms and small hamlets of gold seekers and old ruined forts and such. All the specific locations could be handy. Although the players do not know specifically where things are, only towards the road or towards the mountains and generally I can shift around.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

That's not a limit on gameplay, that's a set of conditions for the situation in which the characters find themselves. There's no imperative that there should be a possibility that a secret passage should be found if there isn't one specified.

Likewise there is no imperative that secret passages must be brought into play by the process of one participant imagining they exist in certain places and that being a precondition for the fiction 'there is a secret door here'.

 

[Reynard]

Likewise there is no imperative that secret passages must be brought into play by the process of one participant imagining they exist in certain places and that being a precondition for the fiction 'there is a secret door here'.

You are being coy but what I think you are saying is "The GM doesn't get to decide where the secret doors are." If so, that is a provocative statement beyond the scope of this thread.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

One thing I think is important for gameplay oriented world building is to not hinge the world on a singular story within it.

What makes this true? What are the implications? I would say that one thing which is important is that the world doesn't constrain the shape of that one story too much.

To use Eberron as an example again, the nature of the Mourning is indeed an important and interesting story in the world that can fuel all kinds of adventures, but even if a campaign solves the mystery or even undoes the Mourning, Eberron as a world continues on. The world changes,which is good, but the next campaign can follow in the same Eberron.

But if I just want to tell one story about the impact of the Mourning, then I don't care.

Worlds built around a singular, defining central story -- Krynn for example -- are often less easily adapted to other stories. This isn't always true, of course, but it is telling that Krynn got a lot bigger as 2E wore on, in order to try and make it a broader world with stories to tell beyond the War of the Lance and its fallout.

Sure, but in the end most worlds are just vessels for the story their authors wanted to tell.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Sure, but in the end most worlds are just vessels for the story their authors wanted to tell.

When building my current world this is something I explicitly tried to avoid. I wanted it to be a cool place where interesting stuff happens, but none of that stuff is a world shattering metaplot that wraps everything to be about it. I mean sure, there is stuff in it I want to address, but it is not some one overarching story and the players are free to disregard things they don't find engaging without the pressure of "if you do nothing, the Evil Overlords plunges the entire world into eternal darkness etc."

 

[Reynard]

What makes this true? What are the implications?

Then you end up with a world that is not much use beyond that one story, in which case you have shifted from world building to campaign prep -- related but different things with different goals.

I would say that one thing which is important is that the world doesn't constrain the shape of that one story too much.

That seems at odds with the whole idea of developing the world for a singular story.

But if I just want to tell one story about the impact of the Mourning, then I don't care.

You did not design Eberron. The people that did wanted it to be useful for many different potential campaigns. That was the intent of their design.

Sure, but in the end most worlds are just vessels for the story their authors wanted to tell.

GMs are not authors.