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I am trying to create and new campaign world for my players who want something homebrewed but I have hit a bit of a rut. Using the pinterest board at the bottom as a reference for visual style and overall theme can the community give me some ideas?
https://www.pinterest.com/lorenpeterson73/rpg-inspiration/
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Good on you for doing this for your players. First of all, I suggest you ask your players what kind of campaign they want to play in. This will affect how the world looks, or at the very least where the adventure begins. Some examples you might want to mention to your players:
- An Arabian nights campaign will include deserts, genies, flying carpets and giant scorpions among many other things.
- An all bard party campaign might be set in a world where the only magic is musical. This might include orchestral armies, metal band marauders, jazz mercenaries and dueling rock-offs.
Once you know what type of world to make create a small part of the world, a small nation, a couple of islands etc. Also, I don't mean stat everything, I mean have a vague idea of what's in that small place. Stop yourself from creating the whole world at once, or you will suffer from burn out.
Have a vague idea of whats going on in the rest of the world and plan/stat-out out the areas that the players head towards.
We might need more of a base to get you started (also, I'm too lazy to sign-up for pinterest). What things do you definitely want in your world and we can help expand it.
I see a lot of Norse influence, some ‘Arabian,’ a little Asian, mostly generic d&d; on the surface. I could so build a world out of this stuff. But quickly, here are the things I got from it:
• A desert world split between the tundra in the north and the rolling dunes to the south
• Lots of Norse myth (a grittier feel than normal) for a brief overview: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0197623.html or slightly more in-depth: http://www.viking-mythology.com/ . Try 1001 nights for Arabian flair.
• Animal gods (lots of animal companions and nonstandard mounts, some anthro races)
• Trolls and giants for the bulk of monsters in the north, lots of dire animals and few fairy tale style monsters (the dark versions)
• The south is full of monks (and other unarmed combatants)
• Bandits, Jinn and the undead make up the core enemies in the south
• High magic
• Some pirates (Sand? River? Sky?)
• Small Asian influence (perhaps traders from across the sea)
• From the modern and future stuff, I’d either go post-apocalypse (‘ancient ’ technology can be found in lost cities) or add a bit of steampunk
• Forest have a literal heart beating beneath the oldest and largest tree, they can be moved by relocating the heart, or killed by destroying it
Does that give you any ideas?
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I don't have much to offer on the setting details (yet), on the subject of how to make it I offer the following:
An effective and sneaky trick I've used before is: don't make the whole setting at the start.
why? because then you can add new stuff as you play.
As you and your players get other ideas and inspirations, it is easier to add them if you haven't nailed down every little detail in the world and then made the mistake of telling your players all about it ...
- a location (the haunted mansion)
- and I'd established that there was a nearby village
- and I'd named the capitol of the country
- and of course I'd named the country
- One of the players played a hobgoblin so I implemented them into my world with a sort-of background as 1 part freed slaves and 1 part reformed minions, I decided that these hobs had simply realized that civilization had it's perks and switched sides.
- and of course the plot, involving a ghost, a vampire, a family curse etc
We've been playing the campaign for over a year now and so far I've added:
- a rough map over the country, which is growing more detailed as we investigate and adventure through it.(I've also recently introduced a bigger map that almost shows the whole continent, but with no markings except for country names, maybe I'll decide on how the world actually looks this year - most likely not :) )
- 6 neighboring countries/factions that the players are hearing about and interacting with. (japanese tengu, isolasionist racist dwarfes with a ruthless caste system, some nomadic goblinoids - like indian orcs riding dinosaurs, and a country in the south somwhere ruled tyrannicly by powerful mages to name a few)
- I've also added cults,shadow organizations, hidden subplots and dark secrets from history; like what happened to the elves? the gods? why are monsters resurfacing after several decades of very little activity?
an a lot more I can't think of right now.
- the vampire is now a (if not THE) major antagonist, with apile of plots centered on or around him and his actions (man my players hate that guy - even though they've only met him twice ).
The point is that neither me nor my players had any ideas about this when we were starting, I added stuff as I needed it and as inspiration struck.
If I knew the party was going south soon, then I started to ask: "what is in the south?"
Even as they've traveled over familiar paths I've added new information as it's needed ("there is a ruined mansion with a powerful curse in the depths of this forest" - we never even discusssed or drew on the map IF there was a forest alongside this road before...)
so, yeah: ask your players for ideas on what they want to play.
establish where you are starting and if this is going to be a nomadic or base-focused campaign,(nomadic needs more info as they will switch locales often)
make a bare-bones skeleton for the area (what's to the north? what's to the east? are there any wars or alliances that a citizen would know about? etc)
then start adding details and facts in a circular fashion with the most details around exactly where they are and less as you go out.
- who runs this village?
- what kind of shops/services/notable features are here?
- which npc of interest are there?
- why are they there/what can they help with?
- what's in the surrounding countryside? (any monsters or conflicts?)
ex:
as long as you are 2 steps in front of your players they won't even notice that the country they just entered didn't exist a week ago :)
Hope some of this is useful, I apologize for bad spelling or formating.
What kind of campaign do you want to run there? Will there be a lot of political intrigue? Do you anticipate lots of deities involved?
I personally second Oaky upthread. Start small and build out. Also consider some big questions like I mention here because those will help guide your creation.
Frankly I'd say, looking at the first few pics on the inspiration link above that you do something with dragons, forests and the fey. Maybe some world connected to the First World, making it natural, primal. Everything there is bigger; giants, trolls, witches and barbarians.
Also look at the darker faerie tales of old. Have monsters who aren't motivated by treasure. The fey in your lands for example might be able to boost their powers with innocent blood on hand; hags need to eat children to survive; wolves can talk.
Think of some of your favorite RPG video games. they have great expansive visuals for their lands, but the actual world is purposely left vague. There was once a great empire, referred to only as "The Great Empire." They ruled everything and created a system of knights and golems to protect everyone. One day the golems went crazy and now the empire is in ruins, with dozens of squabbling kingdoms rising up out of the ashes.
The old knights, last remnants of the old empire, still roam but they are lost (NPCs, villains). The Young Kingdoms are only as big as America's Rhode Island and in the wilderness even smaller "freeholds" or free states are controlled by warlords, tyrants and messiahs. The PCs then hail from one of the Young Kingdoms - only really define that one and the needed parameters of the current adventure. You've got the broad strokes: ruins everywhere with giant statue chunks (inert golems) all over the land, the Young Kingdoms, Freeholds. Now each adventure just simply fills in the details and the best is: your players are helping you finish it.
Encourage your players to help. Tell them if they add details through character creation they get an extra Trait related to those details. Once the game gets rolling ask them for feedback and vibe off their suggestions. If they want to see megafauna and giant robots in the game you might say that the Great Empire delved into experiments on animals to compete with dragons or that some of the golems have been reactivated.
I saw a lot of nature and wilderness characters and monsters.
Maybe the armored character with deer horns is a horned night. At higher levels he can even lead a wild hunt.
You might consider my Savage Mage class. Also the Wonders of the 100 world wonders topic. I will link them ASAP.
Savage Mage..
World Wonders.
One possibility is to let your players help you with suggestions. You can start with what races you want, even if they aren't standard. The Players could choose one and say where they hail from or similar.
If you are open to let your players collaborate with you in the creation of the setting there is a free game you can play together called Dawn of Worlds. It is a fantasy world creation exercise where all players are gods: each round everyone gets a number of points that they use to shape the geography, create races and civilizations and cause world-shattering events. You go through three ages in which different forms of creation cost different amounts of points.
It is very interesting and makes sure that everyone around the table has the opportunity to literally chape the world you'll play in. It also ensures that everyone gets a basic setting knowledge from the fact that they were directly involved in the creation process. I'm also making a campaign setting currently like you and I'll use Dawn of Worlds with my players this Friday to form the basis of it. If you're interested I can report how it went and give tips based on the experience. :)
Here's one of the best examples...
World By vote..
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qw7z&page=5?World-Creation-by-Popular-Vote #250