Getting to Know You; July 2020 by TaleSpinner

[Inarah]

9 hours ago, TGP said:

Sunday, July 26: World-building, from scratch, for RPGs— Do you like doing that? How many times have you done that? 

 

I did it a couple of times in my younger years, generic fantasy setting compatible with D&D.  I gave it up when I got serious about college.  These days I prefer to spend my time playing the adventures rather than writing them.  There's so much available online. 

 

[Cranky Dog]

9 hours ago, TGP said:

Sunday, July 26: World-building, from scratch, for RPGs— Do you like doing that? How many times have you done that? (Number of settings you have worked on…) If you never do that, what is your goto-default pre-made setting?

I have done it in the past. It's fun, but work intensive. Last time I was serious about it was 15-20 years ago when I was DMing 3e D&D and using Fractal Mapper to design maps and online tools to fill in the demographics.

 

It started with a single city with a ton of detail (locations, major NPCs, local lore and rumours), then slowly expanded as the adventures brought them out into the world. I started to do a pantheon, but lost a ton of data after a hard drive crash and never went back to it.

 

If I ever DM again and run a non-setting specific adventure, I'd like to go back to world building.

 

I don't have a "go-to" setting, but I currently like Paizo's Golarion setting. I used to like Forgotten Realms, but the world being remade with every new edition was a real kill buzz.

[ManvsMini]

11 hours ago, TGP said:

Sunday, July 26: World-building, from scratch, for RPGs— Do you like doing that? How many times have you done that? (Number of settings you have worked on…) If you never do that, what is your goto-default pre-made setting?

 

I enjoy it. This way, if I run an adventure/campaign you aren't pressured to remember details from a published book, which if you get it wrong any munchkin at the table feels honor-bound to begin an argument. I can use the DM's #1 tool: wing it, and write it down later.

 

I'm burned out on Forgotten Realms, and honestly it was never my favorite setting. Never got to play in Greyhawk, but would like to. I enjoy Dragonlance/Krynn for various reasons, but it hasn't had a campaign book since 3rd edition (which I think was a privately released one from Weiss and Hickman). I think that because I was introduced to Krynn first, and being that it is a world based on balance, FR just doesn't do it for me, because the world just has no/little core concept it's built on or to really unify it (other than that the realms are forgotten...). Oh, plus I really am tired of dual-wielding rangers with animal companions...

 

I've only worked on one serious homebrew world, but no one has gotten a chance to play in it yet. I don't focus it around a single concept, but I do try to incorporate within the world history why some core mechanics of the game are the way they are, i.e. why teleportation is high-level magic, why everyone doesn't use a resurrection spell when they die (heavily influenced by Matt Mercer's design, but tweaked just enough so that failed resurrections can be even more dangerous... interesting, I meant interesting!), and etc.

[Corsair]

Never created a world. I like the Battletech and Starfinder universes.

[Keianna]

13 hours ago, TGP said:

Sunday, July 26: World-building, from scratch, for RPGs— Do you like doing that? How many times have you done that? (Number of settings you have worked on…) If you never do that, what is your goto-default pre-made setting?

 

Several times, yes. Most don't last long, unfortunately. I got really into it the last time I made one. We made a map. Then I had to explain why all of the terrain features were there and how they got there. For the world itself, there was a ice age, climates, weather patterns, rock types etc. The country we started in had a history going back a couple thousand years, an interesting magitech level, well explained races etc. Then we started building other countries and the relationships between them and so on. All for a game that lasted 2 sessions 

[MusicalFeline]

12 hours ago, TGP said:

Sunday, July 26: World-building, from scratch, for RPGs— Do you like doing that? How many times have you done that? (Number of settings you have worked on…) If you never do that, what is your goto-default pre-made setting?

Worldbuilding is basically a monthly habit of mine. Sometimes longer or shorter, depending on the size of the world. And I love it.

Probably made about a dozen worlds (including variations/different regions) in the past 9-10 months. All sorts of different themes - classic fantasy, modern; a couple  sci-fi. Most recently I’ve been toying with a Victorian-Steampunk kinda setting.

 

[ttuckerman]

I have done that but one of our group likes to GM.  I am now the second in line to GM but that is because three have dropped out of the group and two of those were ahead of me.  When I GM at Origins I have to stick to the Wild West that is the default World of the RPG. I have done two or three worlds.  

 

The default for or group varies with the RPG.  Now we are in Earth about 22 years ago slightly different from the SG-1 universe.  Before that we were in Rise of the Runelords and Ruins of Azlant of Pathfinder and Dead Suns of Starfinder.  Back a little further it was Griffin Mountain of Runequest and Call of Cthulhu modern.  We have played in the Greyhawk world a few times in different RPGs.  Our sendoff to AD&D was all of our high level characters getting together to conquer the whole world.  My 15th level Illusionist was the lowest by many many levels.

[Mad Jack]

 

 I don't actively engage in worldbuilding so much as idea fragments keep sticking together in my head until they're large enough to fall out on their own, lol. (My brain leaves a trail of ideas behind it wherever it goes...)

Quite often they're connected to other ideas I've already had, and sometimes enough of them accumulate to become a coherent world.

 

 

[Evilhalfling]

Sunday, July 26: World-building, from scratch, for RPGs— Do you like doing that? How many times have you done that? 

Scratch-built Worlds: 

Chania  (D&D 2nd ed) 

Oberlyn (fantasy hero & D&D 3rd) 

Tarth (3 & 3.5 ed) 

Dragon islands (3.5) 

World of 5 Ages (4e D&D)  

- Earth  & Fire 

I started a 5e world but it never developed or played. 

 

6.5 Worlds over 30 years. 

5 ages,  had 2 settings, set 100 years apart.  So effectively 2 worlds that shared a past and a cosmology.  

Edited July 27, 2020 by Evilhalfling

[Auberon]

On 7/25/2020 at 12:43 PM, TGP said:

Saturday, July 25: Have you participated in free RPG Day in past years; are you going to partake today or will you give it a miss?

 

I am aware of it but considering the closest participation shop is a 70 minute drive, I'll pass.

 

19 hours ago, TGP said:

Sunday, July 26: World-building, from scratch, for RPGs— Do you like doing that? How many times have you done that? (Number of settings you have worked on…) If you never do that, what is your goto-default pre-made setting?

 

I like it well enough, but also found it to be too much of a timesink once I got a real job.

[Dilvish the Deliverer]

Update to question for the 25th:

 

FLGS still had stuff so they made it Free RPG Weekend.  And had a discounts of stuff on top of things.  So my picks are in the Acquisitions thread.

 

26th World Building.

 

I have world built often enough, to lesser and greater extents.  From shared world building in a homebrew system with my friends (my buddy Tim fleshed most things out, and we each detailed the area where we ran adventure in the world) to building my own world recovering from The War of the Twelve where a battle between the 12 most powerful wizards in the world over the location of an upcoming magical conjunction destroyed the know word and the survivor fled over the mountains to the relative safety of the frontier lands.

 

I tend to start with an big picture overview: land masses, topographical features, snapshots of the existing nations that the PC would know about; and then detail the starting area and work my way out.  That way, I only spend time detailing things that the player will actually interact with.  I'm very comfortable flying by the seat of my pants and making thing fit into the the already defined structure.  And if things don't make sense, well, the the PC's were obviously misinformed about it.  Was it intentional?  WHAT ARE THEY HIDDING!!!!

 

I haven't run much stuff in my own world lately.  I usually have it be generic enough that it fits whereever the game is playing or in FR as I've been doing a bunch of Adventure League these last few years.

 

 

[redambrosia]

On 7/24/2020 at 6:02 AM, TaleSpinner said:

Friday, July 24: What is the view out your window?

 

Question inspired by: https://window-swap.com/window

This is the view out our living room window:

 

 

that Kia Soul is our car.

 

On 7/25/2020 at 11:43 AM, TGP said:

Saturday, July 25: Have you participated in free RPG Day in past years; are you going to partake today or will you give it a miss?

I have not ever participated in it. I’m not sure there’s a place here that would partake.

 

21 hours ago, TGP said:

Sunday, July 26: World-building, from scratch, for RPGs— Do you like doing that? How many times have you done that? (Number of settings you have worked on…) If you never do that, what is your goto-default pre-made setting?

I’ve made about 5 “campaign settings” from scratch. I’ve never ran any games in them. But yes, I love world building for funsies. 
 

Hubby has his own, very expansive universe that he plays in.

[haldir]

I created my own setting when I was younger but these days I enjoy the published settings. When I do run a game, it's generally Adventure League so I'm bound to whatever setting the adventure is based in. I enjoy the published material so its not like I'm getting my arm twisted to use it.

[Glitterwolf]

On 7/26/2020 at 7:06 AM, TGP said:

Sunday, July 26: World-building, from scratch, for RPGs— Do you like doing that? How many times have you done that? (Number of settings you have worked on…) If you never do that, what is your goto-default pre-made setting?

 

Although I don't play the games, I love to create worlds and background stories for my armies and characters.

 

[TaleSpinner]

Monday, July 27: The dog days are upon us; what's your favorite meal for a hot day?

 

(Thanks, @TGP for jumping in this weekend.  Things got a bit chaotic here; all good now.)