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The truth is that just about any world with a reasonably well developed history, mythology, and etc, will do.
The main thing that inhibits game play is a poor DM, who tries to force the players onto the path he prepared.
[Slightly Off-Topic] Worldbuilding for DnD
Good day!
A lot of my buddies have an interest in DnD but I just can't get into the gameplay. My roommate was an experienced DM who made out like building the back story and setting to his world was a chore. On the other hand, I would love to just create pre-packaged worlds for them to play in, build not only with HD cartography, but also with in depth lore, cultures, and such.
As I have next to no experience of the game itself, my question to those who play(ed) DnD is as follows:
How can I build a world without inhibiting natural factors of gameplay in DnD (specifically Pathfinder)? I'm talking about those points such as fictional history, mythology, races/ethnicities/species, nations, governments, characters - the whole package deal.
Thank you for any advice you can give!
Tholo
The truth is that just about any world with a reasonably well developed history, mythology, and etc, will do.
The main thing that inhibits game play is a poor DM, who tries to force the players onto the path he prepared.
That's great to hear - Thank you for your response!
I was worried that, in building a broad basis of a world, I would unknowingly inhibit proper game play or make it awkward. After reading the monster catalogue for DnD, I'm still kinda worried about having to force DnD species into a world in which I'm trying to avoid every cliche I can (you won't see any existing language on my maps, i.e. "Sea of...", "Mountains", etc - these ideas will be illustrated by in-world regional languages I'm loosely developing). I'd rather not have things like Orcs or Elves, but rather completely different species to utilize: as players, NPC, and creatures.
As for your second point, my goal in the world I'm building is to give the DM a world full of opportunities to create adventure or get into the action wherever they go. Cartography is a large part of that, but making an elaborate network of characters, ambitions, history, and conflict is where I think my meat-and-potatoes needs to reside.
Thanks again!
D&D can be quite daunting in this respect as even the core rulebooks tend to come with the implication that, even if you're not playing in the specific world described (Greyhawk for 3.5, iirc), you're playing in a world that's basically like Greyhawk (or whatever) with the same pantheon of deities, monster types, ecosystem and so on. While Wizards/Hasbro would probably rather people did play exclusively in their proprietary settings as it means more sourcebook sales, I'm not sure how intentional this impression was on their part and I couldn't recommend strongly enough that people basically ignore it from the outset.
The extent to which people make use of the full D&D fluff spectrum will vary from group to group (and desire to do so will vary from person to person) but I'd say you're under no obligation at all to use almost any of it that you don't want to. I've never played in a group that hasn't applied some substantial pruning to the implied fluff basis: player races have usually been trimmed back and I don't think I've ever seen a Gnome character played, for instance. Monster-wise much the same applies: while some folks will want to make full use of everything available in the Monster Manual most world-builders will pick and choose the monsters they want to be present and ignore the rest and players won't necessarily expect the presence of something which doesn't necessarily fit. It can vary, of course: some players want to play fairly strict rules-as-written and want the full range of deities, setting-specific classes, monsters and so on available.
Apart from anything else, the standard D&D setting tends to fall apart in terms of world-building verisimilitude when you examine it closely, because the prevalence of high magic erodes the assumed faux-medievalism to the point where society wouldn't function as presented. The Tippyverse is an attempt to build a coherent world that makes sense with all the stuff from the rulebooks taken at face value, but that approach, while internally consistent, certainly isn't for everyone.
The best advice I can give is firstly to take an open mind to solving potential rules issues, and to communicate to your players what you're trying to accomplish. It might be that you don't want elves in your setting, for instance, but find that the rules for elves fit well with an original setting element to the extent you can sub them in without having to come up with rules from scratch. Conversely, if you're not going to include things your players might otherwise expect, tell them so that they don't base their characters around elements or adversaries that aren't going to come up. For instance, if there are no orcs in your world, it's not really fair to allow a player to take orcs as a ranger favoured enemy. If some types of magic item are going to be hard to come by, or hard to craft, don't let players sink a lot of skill points into skills for that purpose (unless that's part of the point). Most players are happy to work with a GM to work within the setting presented, but don't like feeling screwed over through lack of information. If you're not GMing yourself... that might actually help things, but make sure you and the GM are on the same page since he's going to be the one managing the world even if you create it.
Of course (although it might not be your decision) D&D is not the only RPG ruleset out there and if you want to design a world that really is radically different both in content and in tone to the standard D&D fare you might be better off examining one of the other games out there.
Having played D&D from the beginning (well - almost the absolute beginning - 1979 when D&D first came to Houston, Texas) and having written my own set of rules (Simulacron I) - I can say that building a world, choosing your rule base, and everything else falls into two categories: 1)OMG! THIS IS REALLY A LOT OF FUN!, or 2)Ugh. Now I have to layout location XYZ and put some monsters into it. This is to say - it really IS up to you. You and you alone (as DM) can make or break a game. My suggestion is to get yourself a good set of pencils like you used in school. Get some engineering graph paper (it's 8.5"x11" and is light green in color with dark green lines). Just start some place on it and begin drawing. This paper is fantastic because you can also use it to draw the entrance face-on (rather than top-down). The general rule of thumb for me is - the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Silly). So paper and pencil. Once you've done ten or fifteen dungeons THEN you can scan them in to your computer and work with them there. But if you just try to work with a computer a lot of times you are concentrating on HOW to use the computer and not on the design itself. Lay out encounter areas in the same way. You will be surprised at how well things can be laid out in this manner. It also gives you time to think about things like "Here is a really large boulder the players can hide behind when approaching the gate which leads down into the underworld." Why would you put a boulder there? Maybe there is some kind of really large monster that guards the entrance. You get past the creature and in to the underground area which isn't anywhere near so hard. (I have to pause here to say that I EMPHASIZE A LOT to my players that this isn't just a hack and slash. There are always going to be monsters you just want to go by and not kill and I give experience points for doing that.)
So here is another area you need to explore. Do you want just a hack'n slash game? Then experience points are given out for killing monsters (and almost never for treasure). Or do you want a thinking game? One where the players need to figure out HOW to get to their destination? Then you just give out small amounts for the monsters, nothing for the treasure, and more for what they do to get where they need to get to.
So back to map making : You can start off with just one map. I did. Small story -> "Outside of town is a small hill with a cave on the side of it. This is where you are going." This directs the players to go to the cave. It usually will take a few times of them going to the cave to complete it. When you get home (or everyone leaves), immediately pull out your pencil and paper and draw your next location. This is because you will be hyped from the game and will have ideas you want to get down. If nothing else - just write your ideas down and work on the new dungeon later. But it is very important to write things down. So first dungeon is a cave. Next dungeon can be the sewers under the city. Sewers in the age of the Romans were not always straight but curved around very dense rock. They did have some large areas where multiple sewers met but what you are doing is a fantasy sewer. So it has to be large enough to allow the characters to stand up. So you do an underground sewer system for a PART of the city. Leave the rest to be fleshed out as you go. Make those tunnels be collapsed or blocked in some way. Make other tunnels go off a ways but then return to the path you want them to go down. Again, as you have time, expand your sewers. A small city will take up to a half of a mile in size. Even architects don't draw everything in one sitting. If your players complain just tell them : "I haven't drawn all of that out yet. What you are playing is what I have right now."
Get a notebook to put your maps in. Later, if you want to switch, there are these books which are black and white camouflaged covers that have graph paper in them. These are great for doodling in or drawing maps, dungeons, layouts, etc... and they have the added benefit that if you lose it - you've lost everything! AHHHH! No. Really - they make it easy to keep everything in one place. But I don't suggest using them to begin with. Use them when you have a package deal you want everyone to go through.
Now - here is a very important thing to do and remember: Always use high quality erasures. Architects use a special white erasure that only picks up the graphite from pencils. This helps to keep the paper around a lot longer (especially since a lot of paper is now recycled paper and will just fall apart). Go buy one of these erasures and every time someone does something make a note ON THE DUNGEON. Use stick figures for dead creatures. You aren't trying to clutter up the drawing but knowing where a dead body is comes in handy the next time your adventurers go through the dungeon. First time : "You killed the orcs!" Second time : "You see three dead orc bodies laying in the corridor." Third time : "There are three rotten, partially eaten by rats orc bodies laying here." Fourth time : "There are three skeletons laying here in the corridor." Fifth time : "There are a few bones laying here in the corridor". Continuity. It is what makes dungeons become fascinating.
Ok. So I know it sounds like a lot of work. It is. If you are DM'ing it takes hours to set everything up. Hours to play it. Hours to update everything. You are basically playing God. (Which is why God gave us free will - so he didn't have to keep up with everything! Heh!) But it is a love-it or leave-it kind of thing. If you love it - it seems like five minutes to do everything. If you hate it - it takes forever. So love it and look FORWARDS to doing it.
Later!
I loved playing gnomes Duece, they are my most memorable characters other than a wizard I played for a long while. That said, I didn't choose them for any reasons of min-max, they were unenviable for that (3 and 3.5). Other than that I agree with you, but never really put much thought into it. Me and my friends just played in worlds that largely seemed undefined except for the immediate adventure, and it worked out just fine.
OP: Experienced DM doesn't not imply a a good Dm. A good DM will be someone who enjoys DMing, as simple as that. And yes crafting a whole bunch of stuff to run an adventure (which the players will inevitably divert from in any case) can be a chore, so a Dm can either play it by ear and just continually throw the characters in jail (which is what I did), or use pre-made adventures and avoid all that work entirely, or spend the time to make some adventures. I think if you concentrate on the intimidate things the players will interact with, like making an adventure, and have all that lore and world built stuff as back up you will be set well. Players won't be inhibited by anything in your world, and having all that stuff ready allows for great flow and an easy time. You won't have to worry about them sticking to your plan and can deal with it when thy decide to walk across a country and burn a small village of orphans, you'll be able to respond accordingly and appropriately with the knowledge of the country.
... OMG I just realized that wasn't a joke, I actually was part of a group that went and fought a small village of orphans.... They were evil little poops though so it's alright.
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