Most people I know who create their own setting start from some core idea, a notion or a concept that sets it apart from others and that the world can be developed around. The Realms and Greyhawk are more or less generic, but Dark Sun has the post-apocalyptic fantasy Mad Max thing where magic is bad, Eberron is pulp noir with magitech, Dragonlance has dragons dominating all of it, Planescape has its cosmology, and so on.
If you had to do a 10-second elevator pitch for your world, what would it be? How would you describe it in one sentence? What would be immediately recognizeable about it?
Most people I know who create their own setting start from some core idea, a notion or a concept that sets it apart from others and that the world can be developed around. The Realms and Greyhawk are more or less generic, but Dark Sun has the post-apocalyptic fantasy Mad Max thing where magic is bad, Eberron is pulp noir with magitech, Dragonlance has dragons dominating all of it, Planescape has its cosmology, and so on.
If you had to do a 10-second elevator pitch for your world, what would it be? How would you describe it in one sentence? What would be immediately recognizeable about it?
The idea is that you guys decide the world for me
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I am a conjurer, but the only thing I can summon is disappointment
Status: schools started, so weekday posting is limited.
I'm a member of the "oops I accidentally destroyed someone's brain cult"
I might be losing it at the rate of the heat death of the universe.
Most people I know who create their own setting start from some core idea, a notion or a concept that sets it apart from others and that the world can be developed around. The Realms and Greyhawk are more or less generic, but Dark Sun has the post-apocalyptic fantasy Mad Max thing where magic is bad, Eberron is pulp noir with magitech, Dragonlance has dragons dominating all of it, Planescape has its cosmology, and so on.
If you had to do a 10-second elevator pitch for your world, what would it be? How would you describe it in one sentence? What would be immediately recognizeable about it?
The idea is that you guys decide the world for me
You can probably do a bit better than that, no?
For instance, religious system: animism. Ok, how is that supposed to work? No gods, one god, a pantheon of gods? What is the role of clerics in the world, and how do they perform that role? What are the animi - spirits, souls, elements, something else? Does everyone accept animism, or is it exclusive to one or a few races? If not, what do others believe in? And how do various philosophies and religions coexist?
Or time period: war coming. War between who? And why? Is it coming for sure (if so, what set it off) or is it brewing (if so, what might set it off)? What kind of war is it (predominantly regular warfare, or political posturing, or maybe mostly magical, and so on)? What does it mean for the setting (are people of appropriate age being drafted, is the war popular with the common folk or is it imposed on them by an uncaring overlord, is there a booming weapons industry, where is the money to fund the war effort coming from and is there enough)?
Just take the handful of things you decided and think about them. Why did you decide on them? What details did you already think of when you made the decision? How do they fit with D&D 5E's ruleset? Do you want everything that exists for 5E to have a place, or are there mechanics you don't want (maybe you prefer not to have certain races exist, maybe some (sub)classes aren't suitable for the setting, etc)?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Most people I know who create their own setting start from some core idea, a notion or a concept that sets it apart from others and that the world can be developed around. The Realms and Greyhawk are more or less generic, but Dark Sun has the post-apocalyptic fantasy Mad Max thing where magic is bad, Eberron is pulp noir with magitech, Dragonlance has dragons dominating all of it, Planescape has its cosmology, and so on.
If you had to do a 10-second elevator pitch for your world, what would it be? How would you describe it in one sentence? What would be immediately recognizeable about it?
The idea is that you guys decide the world for me
You can probably do a bit better than that, no?
For instance, religious system: animism. Ok, how is that supposed to work? No gods, one god, a pantheon of gods? What is the role of clerics in the world, and how do they perform that role? What are the animi - spirits, souls, elements, something else? Does everyone accept animism, or is it exclusive to one or a few races? If not, what do others believe in? And how do various philosophies and religions coexist?
Or time period: war coming. War between who? And why? Is it coming for sure (if so, what set it off) or is it brewing (if so, what might set it off)? What kind of war is it (predominantly regular warfare, or political posturing, or maybe mostly magical, and so on)? What does it mean for the setting (are people of appropriate age being drafted, is the war popular with the common folk or is it imposed on them by an uncaring overlord, is there a booming weapons industry, where is the money to fund the war effort coming from and is there enough)?
Just take the handful of things you decided and think about them. Why did you decide on them? What details did you already think of when you made the decision? How do they fit with D&D 5E's ruleset? Do you want everything that exists for 5E to have a place, or are there mechanics you don't want (maybe you prefer not to have certain races exist, maybe some (sub)classes aren't suitable for the setting, etc)?
You get to decide who’s going to war, how clerics work and the rest. He gives us a rough idea of what’s in the world and we get to add the details
It's your world, and you have to deal with the details. There are tons of examples. Under the Sources menu, look at any of the Sourcebooks. I'd suggest "Eberron: Rising From the Last War." That should work beautifully. If you want someone else to do all the work for you, all you need to do is buy that book.
It's your world, and you have to deal with the details. There are tons of examples. Under the Sources menu, look at any of the Sourcebooks. I'd suggest "Eberron: Rising From the Last War." That should work beautifully. If you want someone else to do all the work for you, all you need to do is buy that book.
Has it occurred to you that it might be fun to see what ideas other people might have to add.
So did Jack727 speak " Has it occurred to you that it might be fun to see what ideas other people might have to add?"
Sure. I was giving a direct answer to Bender2120301's questions. They wanted "help" they got helped.
I could go on, but if the answers Bender is looking for aren't here then where? I suggest Wikipedia as it has an immense number of articles about every possible aspect of every detail Bender wants to know.
Hey, Jack, no problem. I never actually read your "Create a World" thread, so I might have been stepping on your toes without meaning to.
All that Bender has said since that first post was "Help" "Not sure", and "The idea is for you guys decide the world for me." I really do think that the Eberron soucebook would be perfect for that. We'll have to see what he says about all this.
Hey, Jack, no problem. I never actually read your "Create a World" thread, so I might have been stepping on your toes without meaning to.
All that Bender has said since that first post was "Help" "Not sure", and "The idea is for you guys decide the world for me." I really do think that the Eberron soucebook would be perfect for that. We'll have to see what he says about all this.
I would do this but I don’t have income so I can’t get the sourcebook
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I am a conjurer, but the only thing I can summon is disappointment
Status: schools started, so weekday posting is limited.
I'm a member of the "oops I accidentally destroyed someone's brain cult"
I might be losing it at the rate of the heat death of the universe.
There are multiple wikis for every published setting. They're not super convenient to read in their entirety, but if you want to look up a given topic it's very easy.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
All right. One more time. :-) What can you get for free from D&D Beyond if you want to create a world? Nothing. All there is would be advice. There is no World Builder tool. Drop by D&D Beyond Feedback and suggest they make one. You only ever get what you pay for, one way or another. I might suggest that if you want us to do everything for you, then you should be paying us. My rates are reasonable. 15 dollars an hour. I've spent quite a few hours on my own world, so I have an 18 page document on my world. I believe I know what I am doing, and it shouldn't take me more than a few months to hammer out all the things you want. So 3 months, 8 hours a day, say 30 days a month for convenience, that's $10,800. Or you can always go to the Off Topic forum and post under Advertisements and take some bids. I bet you can get what you want for less than I charge.
Hey, Jack, no problem. I never actually read your "Create a World" thread, so I might have been stepping on your toes without meaning to.
All that Bender has said since that first post was "Help" "Not sure", and "The idea is for you guys decide the world for me." I really do think that the Eberron soucebook would be perfect for that. We'll have to see what he says about all this.
I would do this but I don’t have income so I can’t get the sourcebook
You do not need a D&D sourcebook. You can just copy the setting from your favorite story/fiction/series that you already know and love. Just rename a few things, modify it to your stated requirements, turn the map upside down, and you are good to go. If you do not mind a little more work, you can easily take elements from various stories and kit bash them together.
If you want the details decided for you, you can also offload worldbuilding to your players. Empower your players to be gods of the multiverse, and see how they mold the world. As the god of all gods, you can always overrule or revert their decisions if you do not like it. Just make sure you clearly communicate the limits of their divine powers and you have the final say in everything during session zero, so players will not get super disappointed when being told that you will not use their idea of a nomadic nation of man-bear-pigs riding cat-dog-mounts.
Additionally, you can also use various world building tables to roll on to decide on details.
— — — — — — —
If you want me to decide, here is what I would suggest:
Magic: Throw in the magic system of Harry Potter, the Force form Star Wars, Bending from Avatar, psychic powers from 40K, and the winds of magic from Warhammer Fantasy.
Gods, Age, Religion: I am not sure what you mean by gods, but I am not going to write a story for free. If you want something super specific, I recommend using Romeo and Juliet as the creation story with all the characters being various gods/spirits/supernatural entities, and the death of Romeo and Juliet being the start of the world with their bodies being the sky and the earth.
War: Copy Game of Thrones and weave the history of war of your country into one of the Seven Kingdoms.
Bender, I'm just saying that if you want others to help you create a world of your own, you're going to get better results giving them something to start from. If you just need a setting, that doesn't have to be original, just google any of half a dozen published settings and you'll find tons of stuff on free wikis to copy, paraphrase or adjust. Either way, start with things you need the most/soonest. If you want an animistic setting, deities are possibly a secondary concern. If you want an impending war to be important, the nations and geography involved as well as the reasons for this animosity matter more than developing an original way to handle the trading of magical items. If you plan on starting with a low-level adventure in a given location, you need details for that location but everywhere else can wait, other than some broad strokes commonly known information.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Yo! My last thread was super inactive, so let’s try this again:
Magic: medium/high
Gods: moderate lore
Age: old
Religious system: animism
Time period: War coming
"Help" "Not sure" "The idea is that you guys decide the world for me" "I would do this but I don't have income so I can't get the sourcebook" "I am leaving. This no longer suits my original idea."
Interesting thing to note. In all Bender's posts, there is only one period used. It's the end of the last thing Bender says. "idea" Bender has no idea what they want, Period.
We all tried to help, and we got very little back in return. I'm half-tempted to try and buy them the Eberron virtual book, but given their reluctance to take any action at all for themselves, I don't think they would click on the link. That would be too hard. They would need to ask someone else to do that for them. Bender is beyond help on D&D Beyond.
Yo! My last thread was super inactive, so let’s try this again:
Magic: medium/high
Gods: moderate lore
Age: old
Religious system: animism
Time period: War coming
this is based on Jack727’s Create a World thread
I am a conjurer, but the only thing I can summon is disappointment
Status: schools started, so weekday posting is limited.
I'm a member of the "oops I accidentally destroyed someone's brain cult"
I might be losing it at the rate of the heat death of the universe.
Extended Sig
I mean, I've been working on mine on and off for about two decades. What are you expecting/hoping for/in need of?
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Help
I am a conjurer, but the only thing I can summon is disappointment
Status: schools started, so weekday posting is limited.
I'm a member of the "oops I accidentally destroyed someone's brain cult"
I might be losing it at the rate of the heat death of the universe.
Extended Sig
Most people I know who create their own setting start from some core idea, a notion or a concept that sets it apart from others and that the world can be developed around. The Realms and Greyhawk are more or less generic, but Dark Sun has the post-apocalyptic fantasy Mad Max thing where magic is bad, Eberron is pulp noir with magitech, Dragonlance has dragons dominating all of it, Planescape has its cosmology, and so on.
If you had to do a 10-second elevator pitch for your world, what would it be? How would you describe it in one sentence? What would be immediately recognizeable about it?
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Not sure
I am a conjurer, but the only thing I can summon is disappointment
Status: schools started, so weekday posting is limited.
I'm a member of the "oops I accidentally destroyed someone's brain cult"
I might be losing it at the rate of the heat death of the universe.
Extended Sig
The idea is that you guys decide the world for me
I am a conjurer, but the only thing I can summon is disappointment
Status: schools started, so weekday posting is limited.
I'm a member of the "oops I accidentally destroyed someone's brain cult"
I might be losing it at the rate of the heat death of the universe.
Extended Sig
You can probably do a bit better than that, no?
For instance, religious system: animism. Ok, how is that supposed to work? No gods, one god, a pantheon of gods? What is the role of clerics in the world, and how do they perform that role? What are the animi - spirits, souls, elements, something else? Does everyone accept animism, or is it exclusive to one or a few races? If not, what do others believe in? And how do various philosophies and religions coexist?
Or time period: war coming. War between who? And why? Is it coming for sure (if so, what set it off) or is it brewing (if so, what might set it off)? What kind of war is it (predominantly regular warfare, or political posturing, or maybe mostly magical, and so on)? What does it mean for the setting (are people of appropriate age being drafted, is the war popular with the common folk or is it imposed on them by an uncaring overlord, is there a booming weapons industry, where is the money to fund the war effort coming from and is there enough)?
Just take the handful of things you decided and think about them. Why did you decide on them? What details did you already think of when you made the decision? How do they fit with D&D 5E's ruleset? Do you want everything that exists for 5E to have a place, or are there mechanics you don't want (maybe you prefer not to have certain races exist, maybe some (sub)classes aren't suitable for the setting, etc)?
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
You get to decide who’s going to war, how clerics work and the rest. He gives us a rough idea of what’s in the world and we get to add the details
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
It's your world, and you have to deal with the details. There are tons of examples. Under the Sources menu, look at any of the Sourcebooks. I'd suggest "Eberron: Rising From the Last War." That should work beautifully. If you want someone else to do all the work for you, all you need to do is buy that book.
<Insert clever signature here>
Has it occurred to you that it might be fun to see what ideas other people might have to add.
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
So did Jack727 speak " Has it occurred to you that it might be fun to see what ideas other people might have to add?"
Sure. I was giving a direct answer to Bender2120301's questions. They wanted "help" they got helped.
I could go on, but if the answers Bender is looking for aren't here then where? I suggest Wikipedia as it has an immense number of articles about every possible aspect of every detail Bender wants to know.
<Insert clever signature here>
Sorry I had no reason to escalate and I was rude for no reason.
Mostly nocturnal
help build a world here
Hey, Jack, no problem. I never actually read your "Create a World" thread, so I might have been stepping on your toes without meaning to.
All that Bender has said since that first post was "Help" "Not sure", and "The idea is for you guys decide the world for me." I really do think that the Eberron soucebook would be perfect for that. We'll have to see what he says about all this.
<Insert clever signature here>
I would do this but I don’t have income so I can’t get the sourcebook
I am a conjurer, but the only thing I can summon is disappointment
Status: schools started, so weekday posting is limited.
I'm a member of the "oops I accidentally destroyed someone's brain cult"
I might be losing it at the rate of the heat death of the universe.
Extended Sig
There are multiple wikis for every published setting. They're not super convenient to read in their entirety, but if you want to look up a given topic it's very easy.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
All right. One more time. :-) What can you get for free from D&D Beyond if you want to create a world? Nothing. All there is would be advice. There is no World Builder tool. Drop by D&D Beyond Feedback and suggest they make one. You only ever get what you pay for, one way or another. I might suggest that if you want us to do everything for you, then you should be paying us. My rates are reasonable. 15 dollars an hour. I've spent quite a few hours on my own world, so I have an 18 page document on my world. I believe I know what I am doing, and it shouldn't take me more than a few months to hammer out all the things you want. So 3 months, 8 hours a day, say 30 days a month for convenience, that's $10,800. Or you can always go to the Off Topic forum and post under Advertisements and take some bids. I bet you can get what you want for less than I charge.
Honestly, what do you want for free?
<Insert clever signature here>
You do not need a D&D sourcebook. You can just copy the setting from your favorite story/fiction/series that you already know and love. Just rename a few things, modify it to your stated requirements, turn the map upside down, and you are good to go. If you do not mind a little more work, you can easily take elements from various stories and kit bash them together.
If you want the details decided for you, you can also offload worldbuilding to your players. Empower your players to be gods of the multiverse, and see how they mold the world. As the god of all gods, you can always overrule or revert their decisions if you do not like it. Just make sure you clearly communicate the limits of their divine powers and you have the final say in everything during session zero, so players will not get super disappointed when being told that you will not use their idea of a nomadic nation of man-bear-pigs riding cat-dog-mounts.
Additionally, you can also use various world building tables to roll on to decide on details.
— — — — — — —
If you want me to decide, here is what I would suggest:
Magic: Throw in the magic system of Harry Potter, the Force form Star Wars, Bending from Avatar, psychic powers from 40K, and the winds of magic from Warhammer Fantasy.
Gods, Age, Religion: I am not sure what you mean by gods, but I am not going to write a story for free. If you want something super specific, I recommend using Romeo and Juliet as the creation story with all the characters being various gods/spirits/supernatural entities, and the death of Romeo and Juliet being the start of the world with their bodies being the sky and the earth.
War: Copy Game of Thrones and weave the history of war of your country into one of the Seven Kingdoms.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
I am leaving. This no longer suits my original idea.
I am a conjurer, but the only thing I can summon is disappointment
Status: schools started, so weekday posting is limited.
I'm a member of the "oops I accidentally destroyed someone's brain cult"
I might be losing it at the rate of the heat death of the universe.
Extended Sig
Bender, I'm just saying that if you want others to help you create a world of your own, you're going to get better results giving them something to start from. If you just need a setting, that doesn't have to be original, just google any of half a dozen published settings and you'll find tons of stuff on free wikis to copy, paraphrase or adjust. Either way, start with things you need the most/soonest. If you want an animistic setting, deities are possibly a secondary concern. If you want an impending war to be important, the nations and geography involved as well as the reasons for this animosity matter more than developing an original way to handle the trading of magical items. If you plan on starting with a low-level adventure in a given location, you need details for that location but everywhere else can wait, other than some broad strokes commonly known information.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Interesting thing to note. In all Bender's posts, there is only one period used. It's the end of the last thing Bender says. "idea" Bender has no idea what they want, Period.
We all tried to help, and we got very little back in return. I'm half-tempted to try and buy them the Eberron virtual book, but given their reluctance to take any action at all for themselves, I don't think they would click on the link. That would be too hard. They would need to ask someone else to do that for them. Bender is beyond help on D&D Beyond.
<Insert clever signature here>