Instant world builder – Part IV: Starting small
This article is part of the Instant World Builder series.
Random thoughts
I was thinking about my obsession with reducing prep time before my D&D games. I don’t have that much free time but I really enjoy world creation and campaign building. I always find some time for hobbies I enjoy – and there are a lot of them – so why not indulge and spend a little more time on prep? Well, I’m just lazy. Isn’t great to do nothing? It has to be one of my favorites hobbies!
The inside out technique
This technique is a good way to keep the world building time to a minimum. In a nutshell it consists of working on a small area where the PCs will be adventuring in the first few sessions and then expand outward in all directions.
Establishing the standards
You have to show your players what your world is about. I believe it makes sense for the starting area to be a normal town or village. It’s a lot of work to make your players feel and understand what your new world is like. There’s a risk of information overload if you tell players what the world should be like but the first few sessions are in a completely different environment.
The players will still be thrilled even though they start their adventuring career in a generic hamlet.
Expanding outward in almost all directions
Once you feel confident that the players are immersed in the new world, it’s time to figure out which parts of the world to create next. Introduce rumors, legends or myths about great people, powerful artifacts, and forgotten places. No need to plan anything. Just introduce random rumors and interesting stories and watch your players’ reactions. They’ll always be more enthusiastic about a few of the possibilities you’ve introduced in the game.
Just go for whatever your players feel like doing – expand in these directions. Doesn’t it make sense for them to choose the goal of the campaign they’re playing in?
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Arete
Hey Yax! Glad you recuperated from Jet Lagged.
I’ve found that starting small helps a lot, like you say. Also, I like to let the players build the shared world by using their choices, character classes and backstories.
Good stuff man!
Thanks for the kind words.
I’ve been quiet the last few days. Not recuperating from jet-lag though. That was more recuperating from having too much fun!
Nice advice, also use this, blog. Going the Grid. Way back when, at the dawn of time almost a nifty rpg called Traveler was out & about came in small black books. There was a section called worlds & adventures, it went on to include some forms ect. One of which was a really basic form allowing you to create a sub-sector, of a star system.
I borrowed this idea and used it to grid up my campaign. Starting small is simple as this forces you to work within the confines of the small sub-sector. I use very simple symbols like that of the old traveler. Mainly because I can’t draw well & its really easy to understand what you did 3 month later when you heros decide they may want to explore in this section.