Background
Info
After reading lots of threads and
several different boards about how to establish a campaign world (or just a
campaign!), I thought I'd wax poetic here about my methodologies that have
developed over the years.
I went on forever about how I do the
big background stuff in my first entry, so here's more of a nitty-gritty view.
My world works... that is as clear
as I can get it. There are kingdoms that are foundering and failing, to either
just disappear or be absorbed into another nation, and there are kingdoms that
are doing everything right and are thriving as centers of commerce and
knowledge.
The question is - WHY??
Simple - it's the rulers! I
personally know every king and queen. Don't get all excity (It’s a word! Look
it up.) and think that I've lost my marbles (they are in a small bag next to my
computer monitor!!) – I don't know the characters, I know the PEOPLE!!!
King Eustain of Elbac can be described as if he is sitting right in front of
me... because he used to. Mr. Eustis Kempter was my sixth grade science teacher
in my home-town. He's heavyset and has nearly no chin and most of his hair has
escaped (but he obviously fights to keep the last of it – his comb-over is the
stuff of LEGEND!), he was one of the quickest people to I've ever known to
holler and shut kids up, but he laughs quickly as well. As a King, he is much
the same – quick to anger but quick to smile and take mercy.
ALL of my big movers and shakers are
of the same cloth – I met them or knew them some time during my life. Some are
former PC's and NPC's from campaigns that I've run – and it's kind of funny,
but I think that I know them better than the people I knew in REAL life!
The Kingdoms in my world that are
failing will leave a history around to eventually be discovered by adventurers,
whether those Kingdom sinks into swamps or are overthrown by rivals.
I've gone in and done calendars for
my world – and I know that one fief over here will fail in 22 years after the
present leader dies and has no heirs. I know that that one Kingdom over here
will suddenly become a world power when they find a huge vein of gold and
platinum in seven years time. That's all long-range planning, and most established
GMs do that stuff.
The short range stuff has more of an
impact on the PC's.
Do your PC's become movers and
shakers in the world, or does it go on without consideration of them? In my
world, it's a mix.
When I start a new campaign, I ask
the players, "Okay, your character is nearing the end of his/her days and
is sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of Ye Olde Adventurers’ Home.
A small child approaches and asks, ‘Who are you? Are you famous? What did you
do in your life?'" It's up to the player to answer.
Oh, sure, some default to, "I
was famous/rich/powerful," and those are the easy ones for which to GM.
Some are the campaign movers, though... they're the ones that say, "I slew
the great Dragon of Antioch" or "I became the King of Saltania."
I then start coming up with a
campaign for the ones that gave me concrete dreams of greatness. I merge
storylines for slaying the Antioch dragon and becoming King of Saltania into
one campaign. I map out milestones for both story arcs and begin to flesh it
out in my mind.
Then I go back to the calendars that
I have. I know that the party should be in Smallsville in late Octember or
Septober and my calendar says that Smallsville will be attacked by Orcs late in
that year and the townsfolk will all be slain or enslaved. Whether the party is
there or not, the attack will happen – if they are gone, they'll hear about it –
but if they are there, they may change the outcome of the battle or slaughter.
This is what makes them movers and
shakers in my world. When the party hears that there was an attempt on King
Andar last week, they know that there is a much larger world than what
surrounds them.
It's just something else to keep those
pesky players interested!
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