the big bang and all that

The most rewarding experience for a Games Master - other than designing your own system - must be designing your own world (or universe, as the case may be). There is nothing more satisfying than having the characters stomp around in a world completely of your own devising. Unfortunately there is a price to pay, designing your own world is a monumental task. Or is it?

Take the real world as an example. If one was to describe, in great detail, just the physical structure of the world how much information would one require? We could start off with a globe of the world, which gives us the general layout of the world's terrain, but doesn't detail most countries very well. So we need country specific maps. But what about towns, which just appear as dots on country maps? You can see where I am going with this can't you? There is a vast amount of detail at a vast amount of scales (I am being a little vague again), which makes the Games Master's job very difficult if they want to try this themselves. So what is the solution? I had a discussion about this with a friend of mine, and we both decided it would be cool if someone designed a program where you could input a world map, but then select different scales and detail them. Thus within the one world map, we could focus down to a single square metre or zoom out into a town. We could print custom maps, and not have to worry about getting the edges to join.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself again, so I'll return to my main concern shall I? I was alluding to the vast amount of information required to "describe" the world. I used geography as an example, but I could have easily used history. Can you imagine how many books would be required just to give a pretty broad "world history"? So does this mean that it's all in vein? That you might as well give up now? No way, we have a few tricks that may help you getting started.

Focusing in on Ant Hills

Why tackle the whole world at once? When you get down to it, the characters are going to have to start somewhere, so why don't you stick them there? It might be a town, or a village or even a monastery, but it's still only one place. Detail with such a small area (in relative terms) is quite easy, and you have probably already designed a few towns and villages in your time. For those you haven't, here are a few things to remember:

  • Draw a Map - It may sound kind of stupid, but the best place to start is with a map. You can start off with a map of the surrounding region, but I would get down to basics straight away. Draw an overview of the village: main roads, major buildings, the layout of the surrounding fields, etc. This will let you get a feel for the village; as well as let you work out whether the village has everything it needs to survive. Does it have a blacksmith? Is there a general store?
  • Major NPCs - Once you have the major buildings, you can start populating them with people. Don't skimp out on this stage, the characters may be spending a lot of time in this village so you won't to make it believable from their point of view. Add some depth to your characters. Give them some history. Make them "real".
  • History - Once the village is detailed, you can start putting it in the big picture. The best way to do this is write the village's history. How was it formed? Who formed it? How long has it been around? What major events have impacted the village? As the village can't exist in a vacuum, this stage also allows you to add some of the political influences on the town. Who runs the are where the village is located? A lord? A bandit?
  • Geography - Once the village details are settled you can start moving outwards. Draw a bigger map, with the village in the centre. Now you can detail the surrounding geography, including rivers, towns, villages and major borders.

At this stage you can use your village, but make sure that everything is internally consistent. That is, make sure that nothing that you have written in one of the later stages contradicts something in the earlier stages. Now you have reached this far, you can go on and start adding details to other towns, the local countryside, etc. As you develop your campaign you will find your world growing out from your original village with great depth and detail.

This isn't the only way to work things, but is the easiest if you are in a hurry. The alternative is to work out-in.

Paint in Broad Strokes

Instead of concentrating on detail, your can shoot for the broad picture straight away. This is more difficult, as there are a number of different approaches.

My favourite is to start with a world map (in rough at first). Draw in the continents, and work out the climatic patterns. This is the tricky part, as climate is determined by geography and geography is determined by climate. Get a good climate and weather book (look in your local library) and get a feel for how the real world works. Then draw in the rough geography (rivers, lakes, and mountains) and work out the climatic patterns from this. Once you have done this you can fill in what kind of vegetation is around. With this approach you can develop cultures that derive from their environment. You can start detailing them, as well as getting a world history set up.

Another approach is just to start with countries you want (you have some idea of what you want before hand I assume) and just make the vegetation suitable to the area. Here you are less concerned with evolution, more with political motivation. Most of your driving force is going to be behind history and politics.

A third approach (and there are more) is just to detail the cultures and history, and not bother with geography. Just allude to where they are located and concertante on where the characters are currently locate. Draw a map for that country, and detail its geography.

You are going to have to concentrate on one country eventually, because that's where the characters start. However you may feel better having all of these details out of the way to start with. There are a few things you may want to think about, such as the system of magic, religion and so forth, but they are beyond the scope of this article.

Helpful Links

There is a fair bit of material on world building out there on the net, but it takes a little digging to find. The following list of links should provide you with enough to get you started, and I would be happy to add any more that you find.

Where to now?

This article gives you a starting place, but shouldn't be considered a road map. Over the coming months, we hope to provide you with even more helpful ideas on how to play god. In the mean time, start experimenting.

The Wanderer's Rest is currently undergoing a major overhaul. If you find any broken links or strange pages please e-mail the Webmaster at dschibeci@iinet.net.au

© 1998 - 2000 David Schibeci