The thumbnail image is one of my favorite pieces of fantasy art. Loved it the first time I saw it in the Advanced D&D 2nd edition player handbook back in the 90's. Thank you for showing some classic fantasy art to a new generation.
Early on the common DM advice was: Build a home base (town, village). Build a dungeon. You're in business. That's really all that B2-Keep on the Borderlands was, and we still play in it 40 years later.
I like to start with the macro things first: - What is the theme or setting of play? (viking, high-magic, etc. You can also consider higher powers here, like gods or dragons or god-kings etc) - What are the key plot elements? (What is going to drive the PC's. I see this as super important. You have to have something that keeps the PC's interested and 'on the path'. This needs to be something THEY want to do, and if you plan this correctly, what THEY want to do is exactly what YOU want them to do :). - What story points might be revealed during play? (I like this one as it provides a way to link seemingly disparate adventures into an arc) Then, just like you've said, flesh out a local area. I find a good tip for an immersive story is to consider what changes in that local area following the PC's actions. Do things improve for the locals, or does it attract interest from a powerful adversary?
Just as an extra point: I've found running pre-written stuff harder in some cases, especially if you're running a famous area. You have to read A LOT and making up stuff becomes difficult when your players know the stories of every notable person in hundred miles.
This is good for linear campaigns. For open campaigns I replace the story bits with factions in the area and what they’re up to. Open campaigns need internally driven players, though…
My first (1E) campaign started in a village, drdawn on a single sheet of typing paper. For flavor, I used houses and hotels out of a Monopoly set. Local maps followed that, then a detailed hex map of the isle on which the campaign was set. Small to large. In my most recent campaign (same planet!), I needed to START with a detailed hex map of the entire continent. The PCs were going to be wandering across much of it, while the geography was inextricably linked to the campaign's narrative and themes. In this instance, doing things piecemeal wasn't going to cut it; seeing the continent as a whole, up front, was an absolute necessity. That said, maps of local areas and communities were drawn up on an as-needed basis. Large to small. My point is simple: sometimes, the needs of the campaign are the deciding factor. (By the by, I now have the entire planet with its four continents mapped, to scale. Only took 40 years...)
Hey Loki, to your point, starting small is the best way to go in my opinion. My brother and I worked on a campaign world that was several hundred years after a great cataclysm that forced many kingdoms into isolation. We started everyone as humans and as the party explored and forged alliances it would open up other races and even class availability. That encouraged a lot of exploration and roleplaying.
wow thats actually really cool, i've always wanted to run a "New World, Colonial-styled campaign" with a similar idea to that but I've never got round to it; but who knows what the future will bring.
I’ve subscribed. Just need a few more to hear about your world!! Just found your content today and really enjoying going through your vids. Love the conversational format and all the classic pictures and visuals. It brings me back to 2nd edition when I was a kid. Thanks for the content!
Having a smaller play area is definitely the way to go for newer Dms and even for more experienced ones, it allows for more detail and will be less overwhelming. I've made the mistake of starting too big a few times and the idea of filling out an unneccessarily large area is what killed those settings. I've got a small region now with space for everything I'm gonna need and want and because of its size nothing is ever too far away.
Honestly aside from the great gm advice, your videos stand out to me by using that exact theme from the beginning of the Exiled Kingdoms RPG. I know its Kevin MacLeod's work, but I didn't heard this track anywhere else aside from the game and your channel. The game is good itself, but it also conveys the same old-school atmosphere that you do, even the 'renessance' bit. Just saying I love your work!
I like low level play, so I really enjoy the limited setting. That said, I do need an idea of the world to make this local setting feel distinct from other places (which I like to develop later). I did fall into the trap of going from big into more and more details, creating worlds etc. I still do sometimes but more for me. And sometimes when I create just for myself I do get ideas for campaigns and adventures. But mostly I like the idea of the characters being a home somewhere and thus having agency taking part in the adventures - it's heir home after all.
Sword coast? Is that near The Five Shires? HAhaha I can't help but homebrew my own settings. It's easier than depending on the company to make a good one. Make a town, place a dungeon within a day of it, then watch the world unfold before you. Granted I always design 95% more than will ever get used, it's there though. Making your own setting is alot like having kids. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. Only your setting won't turn into a blue-haired asshat on you, and if it does....you can scrap it all and start over.
instead of doing Dungeon23, I decided to create a top-down setting (I used a world map generator and then mixed and matched terrain details to make it better fit what I wanted). Now that Ive put the necessary work in to decide on the nature of the world and its history, Im now going back and picking a local spot that looks interesting and developing one local state. Having a broadstrokes history of the world has helped me get a sense of how this one local area fits into all of that but yeah, unless youre willing to put the time in, top-down can be a real slog and I have no expectation that the lore will ever come up
yeah starting a world build going big is definitely a trap and there aren't many posts that i have found on the internet stating something like this. new writers/dungeon masters get overwhelmed and basically dig themselves into a hole and quit. worthy topic that should be talked about more.
Top-down worldbuilding is so common because it's fun for the DM, at first, but it quickly proves to be mostly irrelevant and takes a lot of time/energy. I struggle sometimes to build from the bottom up and prepare more relevant content, and part of that also comes from envy. There are many other fictional settings which have been fleshed out to continental, global, or planar scale, with details about just about everything. Having a setting where you as the DM don't know what or where most things are can feel kinda sad when you compare to the big settings. This is a good video about getting inspiration for what you want to run, but it would be nice to see more about what you can prioritize step by step; such as do you make a dungeon first, how much of it do you want to create, do you make a town first and how much of that do you need to start a good campaign.
I'd sugest that even a Duchy is too big. I would start with just 3 or 4 six-mile hexes with a town and a couple of places of interest, one of them being the main dungeon
@@Dinofaustivoro A duchy is probably the biggest I'd do, but I can agree that Baronies and Counties would likely work a lot better. You can always build up to a duchy and basically do what Matt Colville did. Do one barony per campaign; build it up into a kingdom.
It can be really helpful to have some broad strokes of top down (here’s any major differences from earth, here’s some gods of the area, here’s where in the world the nation is and maybe a neighboring nation or two, here’s the broad idea about the nation and neighboring kingdom. Here’s the area and kind of terrain around and some town names. Here’s the starting town and the immediate environ). That level of top down gives a bit of context for the bottom up without having to detail much of anything outside the detail. Then fill in gaps as they come up.
Image at 6.00 :) graveyard .. its a great pic, but then i saw the crucifixes .. SO MANY questions :) did jesus die for orcs and elves? and even if there were christians in your world, what must they make of the bible? "Hey .. where the hell is this "palestine" supposed to be and wtf are "romans" anyways?" Its a problem that goes all the way back to the 70s .. why does so much dnd art have guys turning undead .. with a cross? Why do clerics wear crosses on thier surcoat? Does ANYONE .. seriously have christianity in thier fantasy world? Some one should do a vid .. BUT NOBODY WOULD DARE lol
There are a number of settings I've seen over the years that incorporate Christianity in one fashion or another. There are even profesionally published ones, like the standard GURPS Fantasy setting, which has Christianity (and Islam) because the humans of the setting come from our world, tossed across the worlds by the Banestorm.
The thumbnail image is one of my favorite pieces of fantasy art. Loved it the first time I saw it in the Advanced D&D 2nd edition player handbook back in the 90's. Thank you for showing some classic fantasy art to a new generation.
Same I come back to that book again and again, love the art
Early on the common DM advice was: Build a home base (town, village). Build a dungeon. You're in business. That's really all that B2-Keep on the Borderlands was, and we still play in it 40 years later.
I like to start with the macro things first:
- What is the theme or setting of play? (viking, high-magic, etc. You can also consider higher powers here, like gods or dragons or god-kings etc)
- What are the key plot elements? (What is going to drive the PC's. I see this as super important. You have to have something that keeps the PC's interested and 'on the path'. This needs to be something THEY want to do, and if you plan this correctly, what THEY want to do is exactly what YOU want them to do :).
- What story points might be revealed during play? (I like this one as it provides a way to link seemingly disparate adventures into an arc)
Then, just like you've said, flesh out a local area.
I find a good tip for an immersive story is to consider what changes in that local area following the PC's actions. Do things improve for the locals, or does it attract interest from a powerful adversary?
Just as an extra point: I've found running pre-written stuff harder in some cases, especially if you're running a famous area. You have to read A LOT and making up stuff becomes difficult when your players know the stories of every notable person in hundred miles.
great points buddy, thanks for sharing.
This is good for linear campaigns. For open campaigns I replace the story bits with factions in the area and what they’re up to. Open campaigns need internally driven players, though…
My first (1E) campaign started in a village, drdawn on a single sheet of typing paper. For flavor, I used houses and hotels out of a Monopoly set. Local maps followed that, then a detailed hex map of the isle on which the campaign was set. Small to large.
In my most recent campaign (same planet!), I needed to START with a detailed hex map of the entire continent. The PCs were going to be wandering across much of it, while the geography was inextricably linked to the campaign's narrative and themes. In this instance, doing things piecemeal wasn't going to cut it; seeing the continent as a whole, up front, was an absolute necessity. That said, maps of local areas and communities were drawn up on an as-needed basis. Large to small.
My point is simple: sometimes, the needs of the campaign are the deciding factor. (By the by, I now have the entire planet with its four continents mapped, to scale. Only took 40 years...)
Hey Loki, to your point, starting small is the best way to go in my opinion. My brother and I worked on a campaign world that was several hundred years after a great cataclysm that forced many kingdoms into isolation. We started everyone as humans and as the party explored and forged alliances it would open up other races and even class availability. That encouraged a lot of exploration and roleplaying.
wow thats actually really cool, i've always wanted to run a "New World, Colonial-styled campaign" with a similar idea to that but I've never got round to it; but who knows what the future will bring.
Great advice, running pre-written campaigns is one of my big regrets!
I’ve subscribed. Just need a few more to hear about your world!! Just found your content today and really enjoying going through your vids. Love the conversational format and all the classic pictures and visuals. It brings me back to 2nd edition when I was a kid. Thanks for the content!
Awesome! Thank you!
Having a smaller play area is definitely the way to go for newer Dms and even for more experienced ones, it allows for more detail and will be less overwhelming. I've made the mistake of starting too big a few times and the idea of filling out an unneccessarily large area is what killed those settings. I've got a small region now with space for everything I'm gonna need and want and because of its size nothing is ever too far away.
glad you finally started listening to me andy! hahaha.
Honestly aside from the great gm advice, your videos stand out to me by using that exact theme from the beginning of the Exiled Kingdoms RPG. I know its Kevin MacLeod's work, but I didn't heard this track anywhere else aside from the game and your channel. The game is good itself, but it also conveys the same old-school atmosphere that you do, even the 'renessance' bit. Just saying I love your work!
Glad to hear it!
I like low level play, so I really enjoy the limited setting. That said, I do need an idea of the world to make this local setting feel distinct from other places (which I like to develop later). I did fall into the trap of going from big into more and more details, creating worlds etc. I still do sometimes but more for me. And sometimes when I create just for myself I do get ideas for campaigns and adventures.
But mostly I like the idea of the characters being a home somewhere and thus having agency taking part in the adventures - it's heir home after all.
Sword coast? Is that near The Five Shires? HAhaha
I can't help but homebrew my own settings. It's easier than depending on the company to make a good one. Make a town, place a dungeon within a day of it, then watch the world unfold before you. Granted I always design 95% more than will ever get used, it's there though. Making your own setting is alot like having kids. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it. Only your setting won't turn into a blue-haired asshat on you, and if it does....you can scrap it all and start over.
instead of doing Dungeon23, I decided to create a top-down setting (I used a world map generator and then mixed and matched terrain details to make it better fit what I wanted). Now that Ive put the necessary work in to decide on the nature of the world and its history, Im now going back and picking a local spot that looks interesting and developing one local state. Having a broadstrokes history of the world has helped me get a sense of how this one local area fits into all of that
but yeah, unless youre willing to put the time in, top-down can be a real slog and I have no expectation that the lore will ever come up
yeah baby
This was solid advice. Looking forward to making some central tensions for my Knave 2e game!
Glad you liked the video!
yeah starting a world build going big is definitely a trap and there aren't many posts that i have found on the internet stating something like this. new writers/dungeon masters get overwhelmed and basically dig themselves into a hole and quit. worthy topic that should be talked about more.
people need to start pushing this "go big or go home" culture. Everyone knows it's not about how big it is, it's about how you use it. kekekek
I always struggle to start small. Haha. Great ideas in here, by the way!
Top-down worldbuilding is so common because it's fun for the DM, at first, but it quickly proves to be mostly irrelevant and takes a lot of time/energy. I struggle sometimes to build from the bottom up and prepare more relevant content, and part of that also comes from envy. There are many other fictional settings which have been fleshed out to continental, global, or planar scale, with details about just about everything. Having a setting where you as the DM don't know what or where most things are can feel kinda sad when you compare to the big settings. This is a good video about getting inspiration for what you want to run, but it would be nice to see more about what you can prioritize step by step; such as do you make a dungeon first, how much of it do you want to create, do you make a town first and how much of that do you need to start a good campaign.
I'd sugest that even a Duchy is too big. I would start with just 3 or 4 six-mile hexes with a town and a couple of places of interest, one of them being the main dungeon
@@Dinofaustivoro A duchy is probably the biggest I'd do, but I can agree that Baronies and Counties would likely work a lot better. You can always build up to a duchy and basically do what Matt Colville did. Do one barony per campaign; build it up into a kingdom.
It can be really helpful to have some broad strokes of top down (here’s any major differences from earth, here’s some gods of the area, here’s where in the world the nation is and maybe a neighboring nation or two, here’s the broad idea about the nation and neighboring kingdom. Here’s the area and kind of terrain around and some town names. Here’s the starting town and the immediate environ). That level of top down gives a bit of context for the bottom up without having to detail much of anything outside the detail. Then fill in gaps as they come up.
🔥🔥🔥
Great video. Can you share your campaign map? Thanks
I dont care if there is no silk as long as there is enough hemp for all 😉
7:07 LMAO
🤩
Habsburg-kun
Cha'alt!
hw you do dungeons loki
Image at 6.00 :) graveyard .. its a great pic, but then i saw the crucifixes .. SO MANY questions :) did jesus die for orcs and elves? and even if there were christians in your world, what must they make of the bible? "Hey .. where the hell is this "palestine" supposed to be and wtf are "romans" anyways?" Its a problem that goes all the way back to the 70s .. why does so much dnd art have guys turning undead .. with a cross? Why do clerics wear crosses on thier surcoat? Does ANYONE .. seriously have christianity in thier fantasy world? Some one should do a vid .. BUT NOBODY WOULD DARE lol
my campaigns main religion is heavy based in Christianity funnily enough, just with a dragon rather than a floating man in the sky.
@@LokisLair ?? the romans nailed a dragon to a cross?? :) lol
@@markhill3858 kind of
There are a number of settings I've seen over the years that incorporate Christianity in one fashion or another. There are even profesionally published ones, like the standard GURPS Fantasy setting, which has Christianity (and Islam) because the humans of the setting come from our world, tossed across the worlds by the Banestorm.
@@FaoladhTV yes well that has an explanation .. and whats more, gurps fantasy is an atheist universe, no gods are real :)