I've got six more months in the great big sanbox of Afghanistan and have several ideas for a campaign when I get back to my normal gaming group.
I start with a villian. I create the villian, usually level 10, and then decide what his goals are. What he wants, how he would go about achieving his goals, and where his base of operations is.
Once I know the end game, I backwards plan the campaign until I find a good spot for the 'random group of adventurers' to stumble onto things and start causing problems.
I'm interested to hear how the rest of you go about campaign planning.
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Hope you live to see it...
Let us begin:
1- something to mess with your mind
Now that you are disturbed by what you have seen,
2- I map the world
This gives the DM a big picture that makes Dungeon Masters happy - It stabilized your brain so you have a fairly good idea where things are going to go.
Knwoing How to exploit MS Word'd Draw Function is always useful
More about mapping with MS Word
At this point you have a world map.
3 - Come up with an idea of what the cultures are like.
There is plenty out there...and in your brains.
Develop a collection of what is important.
Decide on what races are running about
4- Now you focus on a Local Area and develop it.
Map the local area - the PCs probably wont live long enough to leave
You will likely develop enough to fit a gazetteer - over time.
If you write down a hundred ideas in a list and see where they fall into this Layout:
Dungeon Masters Guide
Introduction.
History as the Immortals Know it.
Geography.
Communities and Settlements.
Society.
Races.
Social Standing.
Religion.
Societies and Organization.
Language.
Currency and Trade.
Governance.
Crime and Punishment.
Relations with Other Nations.
Military.
Monsters.
Artefacts, Treasures and Hidden Places.
Adventures.
and this:
Players Guide
History of region.
Creating Characters.
Special Rules.
And plunder google image search for all the images that would seem to fit into your campaign setting - the real world is an awesome source of ideas.
Don't worry if it doesn't all mesh together and doesn't look like the finished product they turn out of WOTC or Paizo...THat will come as it develops.
5- photo Concept Art is always good
Practicing your art skills is better
6-Map out the Local Dungeon that will draw the interest of the PCs
7- Fill out the contents - and write a module.
Start with a story Idea.
Figure out how to convert to game terms.
Place geographically on my already created world map
Figure how to get players involved.
Work details between A and B.
Somewhere in there, discuss your idea with like-minded others to see if they can help you expound on your idea.
Good lord yellowdingo! That's intense and detailed.
BltzKrg242, That's generally my method as well.
This time around though, I'm going to do a little world-building. My last campaign world, Tas'Col, is all bound up at home. Gonig to have fun creating a new campaign setting to fit my new campaign.
OK then step 3 will be:
Create a geographic area that fits the theme of my adventure.
If you want an Arabian setting, create Arabian terrain etc...
If you don't have a whole world built, then just built what the characters will interact with and leave room for others...
To the OP, invest in a few notebooks and start compiling notes.
Rape, steal, and pillage... intellectual property like it's going out of style.
To be honest, my campaign world started with some ideas some 20-15 years back. Little things like the small percentage of alu-demons being good was the start. Made one as an NPC but never found a use. Sometime later I read something about Lolth wanting worship on the surface, so I jotted down about a group of surface elves who were hers and detailed a few NPCs. A few lesser ideas and a desire to have a little more of an intrigue based campaign was fermenting with no home. Then one day in a lecture hall I fell asleep with pen in hand. A few moments of being out, subtle movements of the hand, before the pen fell and I had 1 inch outline of what would become a small continent. I scaled it up to 9 inches and started putting features to it. After that I spent a few weeks really fleshing out the details that mattered.
I still go back to some of the original notes every so often to consulate the fluff. Since it was started in AD&D 2 ed, then 3rd ed, and now Pathfinder with short pauses to convert and expand, the notes are necessity.
Have no fear, Buddah668, I have several notebooks full of campaign world ideas.
I have one complete campaign world called Tas'Col - it is gritty and grim with some mature themes - not for everyone.
This go'round I'm going to lighten things up quite a bit.
I was more curious about how others went through the process of building their worlds. I start small and build out from there, others start big and then zero in on the details.
This thread is intended to be more of a sharing of ideas about HOW we create our worlds.