RPGnet Columns
03-10-2005, 09:30 PM
Post originally by mongo at 2005-03-10 20:30:24
Converted from Phorums BB System
Hi, I’m Charlie’s brother, Tim. He’s mentioned me a couple of times in his columns. After emailing back and forth with Charlie and others about the building of a brave new world for several months, I’ve decided it’s time to go public.
I’ve just read Charlie’s latest column (World Building Debate) and I’d like to comment. When Charlie asked Ace, myself, and others to help him with this column, there was a lot of debate and a lot of good ideas. I like what Charlie has done with this column and in his (ab)use of his fellow gamers.
Like Ace, however, I had some questions and reservations. I’ve told Charlie from the beginning that I prefer to not only think big, but also to think small. What I mean is that I always try to envision how the information about a particular world and campaign can be relayed to the players and their characters in an interesting manner.
In Chapter 5, Charlie wrote about some of the ideas I had suggested that would involve the PCs in the campaign world. (The Dwarves somehow acquiring the Sphere of Annihilation, the Drow building a Talisman to control the Sphere, etc.) I really think that when a DM creates an aspect of his world and campaign, he should also have some kind of an adventure, a locale, or an NPC for the PCs to interact with.
Granted, the DM should have some kind of overview of the campaign world and he should have some background to fall back on when the PCs go nuts and do the unexpected. But the DM also needs to involve the party in the world. Most of the information the DM creates about his world should be revealed to the players in some way and at some time. Otherwise, what’s the point of creating pages and pages of back story?
In his upcoming chapters, I’d really like to see less world politics and more adventure building. We need towns, dungeons, NPCs, etc. I consider creating the basics of an adventure just as much a part of world building as the actual creation of a campaign hook, pantheons, nations, populations, etc.
In closing, I have two questions for everyone.
1. How do other DMs work up their campaign? From the top down, bottom up (one adventure at a time with no real end goal in mind), or something in between?
2. In the world of Dragon Suns, just how would one involve a party of 1st level adventurers?
I have some ideas on question 2, but I'd like to hear from others.
Later,
Mongo (a.k.a. Tim)
Converted from Phorums BB System
Hi, I’m Charlie’s brother, Tim. He’s mentioned me a couple of times in his columns. After emailing back and forth with Charlie and others about the building of a brave new world for several months, I’ve decided it’s time to go public.
I’ve just read Charlie’s latest column (World Building Debate) and I’d like to comment. When Charlie asked Ace, myself, and others to help him with this column, there was a lot of debate and a lot of good ideas. I like what Charlie has done with this column and in his (ab)use of his fellow gamers.
Like Ace, however, I had some questions and reservations. I’ve told Charlie from the beginning that I prefer to not only think big, but also to think small. What I mean is that I always try to envision how the information about a particular world and campaign can be relayed to the players and their characters in an interesting manner.
In Chapter 5, Charlie wrote about some of the ideas I had suggested that would involve the PCs in the campaign world. (The Dwarves somehow acquiring the Sphere of Annihilation, the Drow building a Talisman to control the Sphere, etc.) I really think that when a DM creates an aspect of his world and campaign, he should also have some kind of an adventure, a locale, or an NPC for the PCs to interact with.
Granted, the DM should have some kind of overview of the campaign world and he should have some background to fall back on when the PCs go nuts and do the unexpected. But the DM also needs to involve the party in the world. Most of the information the DM creates about his world should be revealed to the players in some way and at some time. Otherwise, what’s the point of creating pages and pages of back story?
In his upcoming chapters, I’d really like to see less world politics and more adventure building. We need towns, dungeons, NPCs, etc. I consider creating the basics of an adventure just as much a part of world building as the actual creation of a campaign hook, pantheons, nations, populations, etc.
In closing, I have two questions for everyone.
1. How do other DMs work up their campaign? From the top down, bottom up (one adventure at a time with no real end goal in mind), or something in between?
2. In the world of Dragon Suns, just how would one involve a party of 1st level adventurers?
I have some ideas on question 2, but I'd like to hear from others.
Later,
Mongo (a.k.a. Tim)