Well, in August Paizo will release Player's Guide to Rise of the Runelords which I think will contain some of the information you are looking for. I'm not sure whether it will contain player information about monsters and the like, but it will introduce the world to the players.
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I would not labour the amount of info, and I would consider restricting the PCs backgrounds so that they are likely to know only a small slice of the potential info. That way, you don't need to create reams of stuff on the seven different types of human races, the ancient elf kingdoms, and so on. Just give them enough so they feel reasonably rooted in their immediate location, and maybe know what is over the next hill - but not a massive amount of info on the entire continent. After all, you probably want to keep the good stuff to yourself to surprise them with later. DON'T try to do something similar to a published players' handbook - a couple of pages of pithy notws should suffice unless your world is really odd.
I have run a couple of Eberron campaigns for people with no prior Eberron experience. Now, I obviously am not the author of Eberron, but I still faced the issue of what information I needed to provide so that the players would feel they understood the setting.
In my pbp (An Eberron Campaign in the PBP Discussion thread) I put in some details which I thought would be relevant. I would suggest that you might consider the details in there as a start. Frankly, it is probably more than what you might want to do: I had the advantage of being able to summarise someone else's work, rather than having to come up with it from scratch, and the Eberron setting assumes a level of technological sophistication which means that the geography of the region is probably well known (hence a breakdown on all of the countries, instead of those in the immediate vicinity). But the topics might be useful headlines to guide your thoughts.
I suppose the key stuff is (a) what do the players actually need to know from a game mechanic perspective, (b) what do you want the players to know about the world at the start of the campaign, and (c) what can the PCs be expected to know.
In my notes, for example, I had the detail the gods because they are all new, and you can't have any clerics when the PC doesn't know what gods (and domains) are available. This is an example of category (a).
In category (b) is the stuff about the dragonmarked houses. It is perfectly possible to be a PC in an Eberron campaign and not have anything to do with the Houses. But they are very important to the flavour of Eberron, and make the whole setting different from, say FR. So the info on the dragonmarked houses went in.
In category (c) is the history of Eberron. Probably isn't key, but there should be SOME understanding on the part of PCs, especially educated ones, as to what went before (though I suspect the history in my notes is overly detailed for what the ordinary Joe on the streets of Eberron might know). It might not have much bearing on day-to-day play, but a PC might want to refer to it. And also consider what the PCs DON'T or would be highly unlike to know (which, as DM, you can make the same thing) - which should be most things in a medieval setting without mass education available to all. Then simply don't tell them, which makes your life easier.
And a final comment - write down as much as you want to without it becoming a chore. Don't ruin your own enjoyment of your setting by writing a 50 page background note - unless you want to. Because you are right - very little will be noticed by the PCs, especially if it is a brand new world. And the world itself will grow as the PCs interact with it - it will be a dynamic place and the PCs will and should make a difference to it. So don't set it in amber before they PCs get a chance to play in it.
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Hello, I am new to the message boards.
I’m about to start a new campaign in a world of my own creation and I was wondering how people have delivered information on their campaign worlds to their players before. I realise that player’s more often than not just want to kill the evil priest rather than hear the long proud history of his people, but I at least want to add some flavour to the campaign beyond "This ogre is different to other ogres, you can kill it now".
How have people delivered campaign information on cultures and history before, or seen delivered in published sources, in a way that won't bore the players?
Think of what the characters would know, and keep it brief. Think about what (and how much) you and your friends know about your city, the cities surrounding, you state or province (if applicable), the adjacent states or provinces, you nation, and other nations. Chances are that, you're inherently familiar with your city, have varying degrees of fimilarity with nearby towns and cities, have an abstract familiarity with you nation (basic geography, major locations and landmarks, understanding of its law and government, etc.), very basic knowledge of the states/provinces you haven't traveled to, and mostly anecdotal knowledge of other nations (unless you regularly travel to them--then they fall into the category of states/provinces, above).
Now apply that to the player's characters and your setting--just take into account that the characters are not likely as educated about their world as you and your friends are about the real world.
Give them about 3-5 paragraphs about their character's home nation, and one paragraph about the nations that they're likely to be best informed about (in addition, give them a basic stereotype about the people of these nations and the nations themselves). Give brief overviews of the important basics--culture, gods (and their religions), major holidays/festivals, major cities, ethnicities, etc.
The biggest thing is to give the players the "feel" of the setting and to provide important information that each of their characters should know. But whatever you do, don't bog the players down with extraneous information (especially considering that their characters wouldn't know half of it). Give everyone the basics, give a little more to characters with pertinent Knowledge skills, and if something important comes up during the game that the characters should know but wasn't covered in the basics--let the players know (especially if it would affect their choices and decisions).
well, I used to give a handout, but found that many people didnt read it so decided it was a waste of my time to update it, print it, give it out and stuff; some players are big time into the story and some people just ride along. Find out which are which in your game and give information accordingly. For me as the GM, it is all about the story and it is always a good thing when players are motivated into tying story threads together; I just don't understand the munchkin players who just want to kill stuff; that seems booring.