I am a "new" DM and I try to create a world with 3 Gods. But i find it hard to scale everything out, and I can't find good names for the city's and villages. And I don't know if I want to do milstones or XP. So if a DM with more experience than me can help me, I would really appriciate it.
On the Poll: You should just have Elves, Dwarves, Aarakocra, and Humans. If you can't decide among them, then have all of them.
Scaling Everything Out: if you can give me a little more idea what you mean here (I am interpreting it as meaning building everything out), I might be able to help.
Worry about Milestones or XP after you have a fleshed out adventure. Worry about the adventure after you have the world built.
Don't hesitate to use generators. There are gazillions of them. Here is a partial list c/p from the "tips & Tricks" forum in a post pinned to the top:
D&D Compendium Over 700 online resources for Dungeons & Dragons players and Dungeon Masters alike. Ultimate D&D Resource Collection primarily a collection of adventures and other material from the 5E playtest, apparently put together by one James Firth RK's D&D 5E treasure generator Adjust some setting, and automatically generate a treasure for your players to obsess over. Fantasy Name Generators Name generators for a very wide variety of categories. Chaotic Shiny a long listing of random generators, from characters to holidays to simple maps. Not D&D specific Rangen another listing of random generators, also not D&D specific Donjon - Great set of tools for everything Random. Names, NPCs, Quests, Loot, you name it. Dungen - DunGen will generate high resolution dungeons ready to use in your favorite virtual tabletops.
My process is usually I start with a very rough idea able to be described in a single sentence abotu the world.
Then I do rough ideas of what I want the cultures to be -- in my specific case, I pick two cultures and a genre (western, gangster, fantasy, historical) and then write that out.
Then I start on the map, thinking as I go about what I want to see. For a simple world, I have done a big valley (only a few miles wide and a few miles long, in a big oval) and had everythign happen there. It had all the kinds of places I like to do stuff in.
The "world" doesn't have to be big. Most "worlds" in books are only a small area of the larger planet. I like to always have a dark forest, a jungle, a swamp, a desert, stuff like that. So once I get a good outline, I just figure out where those should go, then add in my cities (a cit for each culture to start).
Once I have a rough idea of the world, I start thinking about my bad guy minions -- the enemies and monsters that the players will face, and where they will live and how they live and so I start the real building with them. They are the source of conflict, and so I need to know a lot about them -- why they do it, how they do it, who leads them, that kind of thing.
Then I do the next pass over the cutlures so I have a better idea.
Finally, I start to dive into the details, using a basic approach that I have used many times:
Cosmology, Gods, Physical World, History, Social World, Fables/Myths/Legends
Cosmology is the Planes and the things that live there, why the planes are, how they work with each other.
Gods is just that -- the Gods. I also describe how they are worshipped, who worships them, what they do, and how involved they are in the world.
Physical world is the physical features -- using the map I talk about the natural features of import. Then I break into the kinds of critters, the weather and climate, and strange features.
History is just that: the history of the "good guy" parts of the world -- the places the PCs come from.
Social World is any common customs shared among them all, then I do tighter breakdowns of each culture, and then I get into trade and commerce stuff -- who has what resource, how it is moved, and the like.
The last bit is just the fables, myths, heroes, stories, and other things -- I draw from ideas that come to me as I create, from in jokes among my player group, from past games, and from existing myth and legend, and mix it with the history that was written, and then sprinkle it in.
I, however, am someone who deeply enjoys world building, and I have been doing it for decades, so I tend to be way more developed than other folks.
A world can be as simple as a map with one city, one town, and one village. It can be as complicated and involved as Forgotten Realms, or something in between like this example.
Don't try to do everything. Leave yourself room to grow.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
For naming, I use the following methods which helps so much!
1. Synonym/Antonym - If the town is full of lumberjacks and their export is wood, I would look up a synonym for wood, lumber, etc 2. Foreign Language - Same as above but I would find the word for wood in another language 3. Anagram - Same town, I would use an anagram such as Odow, Owod, etc OR Ulmber, etc
For Milestone vs XP, Milestone is easier. Less math to do. You can plan level ups after every few combats/session, etc.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
***Happily Forever Dungeon Master***
Trying to be active in the community and help those in need
I recommend starting with a small area and building from there. Anything further away than a days travel from the start location can be nothing more than a name, like Blackpeak Mountain or the Shattered Plains, with very little information about them - try to pick something you feel you could build on. "Grey Mountain" is a lot less evocative than "Blackpeak Mountain" or "Snowcliff".
Pick a start location and a rough idea for an adventure, and build from there. Once you have just enough to introduce players, get some players, and ask them for backstories. Work with them, and things will happen - if they need a place in the world for their backstory, don't say no, say yes - and write it in!
Examples of places and things included in my world which only exist because of player backstories include: a tavern with a fighting pit, a kingdom once ruled by metallic dragons, a holy order of the golden dragon seeking to reclaim the dead dragons scattered horde, A mages guild on 13 huge boats on a floating lake, An underground upside-down forest called Styx, and an entire pantheon of Nordic gods who have a large role in the world, to name a few.
Then let them loose on the world. I have an entire sewer system below a town, complete with underground thieves guild and an evil gnome overseer, because one character decided to jump onto a boat with her horse as it escaped into the sewer. An entire library because the players wanted to research something. You will be amazed at how important it is to worldbuilding that you build what the players are looking to find.
You then need to gauge when to say No. For example, if you have already filled a high street with shops from the party shopping trip, if they come back and look for a different tye of shop, you can say "no, this town doesn't have one", because you've filled it up. If they go somewhere new and look, what do you know? they have one! (write it down).
The big broad options - who should be dominant, as your poll asks - are details that won't have big effects on the players. You can pick any of the above and your world can still be rich and full, and your players will still be looking for a shop that sells magical belts.
Everything you add to the world which the players aren't looking for is good, but it's not making the world more playable, it's making it feel fuller. It's good stuff to add, but it's best to try and make it relevant to a plot, or what they want to find, or to a backstory!
My creative process to world building is have one idea, and build the world around that. The campaign world I have just recently built started out as just a big hole in the ground. Big hole was the idea I came up with to build the world around. The hole is now called the abyss and it is also I portal into the abyss. (The demon dimension) Any who, there are teams of mercenaries and researchers who have entire carriers around exploring this massive hole. You also have to ask yourself things like, how did this giant hole get here? Why is it here? Who put it here? how do people react to it? Just come up with one idea and build upon it.
You do not need to create the whole world. Your players will not absorb a novels worth of lore quickly. Start with an area, village, tribe, etc. Have two or three legends/myths/plot hooks. Have the players tell you in advance which they will bite on and create that first adventure.
Have your players tell you the name of their deity and home town. Leverage their creativity and build a world together.
Search for Sly Flourish - Spiral Campaign to get info about the concept.
Your best players will have creativity they want to share. Let them. Make it the group's world.
How do you create a good world? You do so by answering why you need to create one in the first place. For me, it was because during 3rd and 4th editions the established settings had the fingerprints of a too simplistic morality all over them. I wanted complexity that I couldn't find in Oerth. Having that telos is the direction you need in order to answer questions on the construction of the world. The choice you're facing can only be made in service of a goal. It's arbitrary which three species and which leveling system you use, except insofar as those choices help to accomplish something. Do you want to get away from humans as the default species? Do you want to guide player progression with out-of-depth danger? If you don't have an answer, don't worry--you won't make a wrong choice so long as you try to learn from the experience and to tell a better story next session.
My advice is DON'T create a whole world. Unless you love writing out ideas of places, gods, NPCs etc, there is no need to write a 50 page document with an appendix full of maps. Your players won't explore it all and it is a waste, unless this is a creative outlet you love.
Make up a town with 2-4 key districts or buildings, 2-4 key NPCs. A few gods. Then a tight adventure set in the town or the nearby countryside. Add to it as you go and need more terrain to explore. You can add on a library, a keep or a nearby ruin as suggested by previous authors when you need those areas on subsequent adventures.
In my opinion, there is no reason to create 9 continents, 25 races and hundreds of cities.
I am going to post my favorite town below. You are welcome to steal all of it, or none of it. It is pretty succinct, but I think it provides plenty of key elements to build on.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
Riverfast is a walled town built on river trade. It was only founded in the last 20 years by Duke Rigsby. He is of questionable moral character and sometimes unscrupulous. However, he aggressively works to protect the town and the surrounding industries of trade, forestry, fishing and mining of gold, coal, iron, and gems. He taxes those products and the trade on the river, amassing a sizable fortune in the process.
Riverfast is located on the corner of two rivers. The smaller tributary, Iliun, runs from West to East, feeding into the Agnin. The Agnin river is a broad, meandering river. Fed from snow melt and smaller tributaries to the South, at Riverfast, it is already a half mile across. Riverfast lies on the western bank, towards the unexplored wilds. It eventually dumps into the ocean, a few hundred miles to the north. A large town is rumored to be at the mouth of the river. The east bank of the river is a wide delta of rich silt, supporting farms that feed the city. Seasonal labor lives in the city and crosses the river to work, while many of the full-time farmers live on the east bank. Far to the east are more civilized lands.
Dark Pine Forest is to the south of town. Much of the forest is unexplored and all is uninhabited. Few people venture into the forest at night but there are loggers in the regions closer to town although many sleep inside the walls at night. They haul the logs down to the river, form rafts and then sailors float them down to the mouth of the river. Sometimes, other goods are placed on top of the rafts to be carried to market as well. 30-50-foot-long flat-bottomed boats (Gnarr) sail and row the river as well. The docks and wharves team with activity. It would be a large, prosperous city if it wasn’t so dangerous and if the ruler was more benevolent.
To the west are the Iron Hills. Some of these hills have mineral deposits which have attracted a few dwarves, like Brudock Greatbinder. Conditions in the mines are difficult, although there is potential for wealth if a miner finds a valuable mineral; many mine owners give bonuses if a particularly valuable resource is uncovered and there are at least steady wages otherwise.
There is little magic in the area and it is generally distrusted. Warriors abound as everyone is conscripted into the town guard. Weapons and blacksmiths are also plentiful. Some thieves are also around, attracted by the growing trade. There are rumors of some of the thieves coordinating their heists through a loose network. Although the townsfolk do not have many material possessions, the docks are loading and unloading cargo all the time.
Riverfast Gods
Tanis is the god of trade and water, especially rivers. His priests help mollify storms, help sailors and commerce. The priests wear a fish as their symbol and dress in a deep blue cloak. Tanis is sometimes depicted as a tall man with a fishing net. His temple is at the confluence of the Agnin and Iliun rivers.
Ehlonna, the god of love and healing is also worshipped in this dangerous land. Her priests heal injuries, cure poison and even raise the dead. They wear a shining golden sun medallion. Ehlonna is sometimes is depicted as carrying a harp or blindfolded, as she cares for all living creatures. Her temple is in the center of town.
The god of the forest is Sylvanna and she is worshipped by the lumberjacks and others who venture into the woods. There are rumors of a druid enclave, deep in the Dark Pine Forest. The clerics revere the long needle pine and hornwood tree. Their symbol is a pair of crossed arrows. They often wear green or brown.
Nerull, the god of death, murder and darkness is also known but not worshipped. People fear his name. His red robed clerics are not allowed in town and in some places are hunted down. It is rumored that some of his clerics walk the streets in disguise.
A monk, Talmudiem, created a shrine in the woods outside of Over the Iliun. The town has slowly grown up around it and a market now surrounds the shrine. The monk is always proselyting the populace to worship the relatively unknown god of justice, Galil. He has had few converts but soldiers on, regularly committing acts of benevolence with the sparse donations. The shrine contains a small figurine of a large man with a heavy war hammer.
Key People in Riverfast
Sam Sturgeon is a local merchant who sells weapons to the town guard, hunters and adventurers. Sam’s store is in the center of town. He occasionally carries magic items and can often identify enchanted items as well. His brother is Radin Sturgeon. Radin works with Sam but is more focused on running boats up and down the river and trading goods with other merchants. Their office is near the docks.
Brudock Greatbinder is a dwarf who owns a mine in the Iron Hills. He recently came upon a vein of arcanite, which was sold for a fortune to merchants at the mouth of the river. Although Brudock made some money from this, much went to the Duke and the middlemen.
Duke Rigsby is the local lord. Some question whether he is a duke at all. He founded the city about 20 years ago. He is an avaricious man, which impedes the stability and progress of the town for all. Do not cross him as he does not tolerate dissension and insubordination. He does have a vested interest to maintain peace and order, but a benevolent ruler he is not!
Rex Gar is the chief of the town guard. He is a mountain of a man, gregarious, boisterous and with a love of strong drink, which he can put away in enormous quantities. His nephew, Roland Gar, died in a pie eating contest recently. Everyone blames it on poison. Roland was worried someone was planning to steal Brudock’s arcanite before it could be shipped downriver.
Eldwick the Hermit lives in Dark Pine Forest, a few hours from town. He grows a variety of plants and makes potions and poultices for the locals. Especially exotic potions are sometimes shipped down river. No one knows how he can live unprotected in the forest but he seems to make it just fine. He comes into town every few weeks to sell his wares.
Key Areas in Riverfast
Life is centered around the main docks, which are at the confluence of the rivers. Ships load and unload goods here. Many merchants live next to the wharf, including the Sturgeons. The best inn in town, the Drunken Mermaid, is here as well. The Temple of Tanis looks out over the confluence of the rivers.
The butchers and tanners are just west of the docks. Their district has a distinct, malodorous smell and they soil the Ilium with their waste. There is no dumping allowed in the Agnin!
The Temple of Ehlonna is a large, columned edifice just west of the docks. Many villagers regularly come to the temple and a small market has sprung up around it, selling animals for sacrifice, incense, and numerous every day necessities.
The Duke’s Borrough and the Government District hold several governmental buildings. Many employed by the Duke live here. It is well off for the area. An open area south of the keep serves as a parade ground. Gallows are erected here when needed. The Merry Jester tavern overlooks this open space.
Smith’s District and Logger’s Row are poorer areas that attract many common laborers. The proximity to the gate and forest is an obvious attraction to the loggers. The nearby Southern Gate Market sells a variety of necessities. The Jumping Fish Inn is a stop for many who come in through the southern gate.
Over the Ilium is an area of town that has developed over the last five years or so. Land is cheap but there are no walls, a real drawback in this dangerous area. There is a small dock on the Ilium. A shrine to a new god, Galil, has been erected in a market. An old man, Talmudiem, is seen in the market every day, taking alms for the god and preaching to the masses. The Over the Ilium market is the larger and older of the two markets on this side of the river and is towards the east.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
My two cents... Imagine the culture that you want your people to have... Is it like anything on Earth, can you Google towns in Germany?
TOTALLY do milestones! It speeds things up so much...
And, you want to make a great world? Write a story about two citizens of your world. Nothing to do with your characters. Just a story you write to create two people in your new world. Give them stories, make them NPCs later, I don't care. The exercise will give your world life and inspiration.
I would start with a small village. decide how people in the village make money. okay now lets say that they make ships. now make a simple inn that the party can stay at and add small little details and make a unique barkeep. Perhaps the inn is a place where the town guard usually drinks or where shady individuals lurk. make a small history of the town like a famous warrior grew up there. Whats the gossip and news around town? Make sure to add intrigue for players. Expand outward and add the history of the town to other areas around there to make everything match up. As you create small details you will expand the story and make it enjoyable for your players. And remember that its always okay to change stuff and be flexible. Also use milestones because its fun and its WAY EASIER
Mythology nerd. 300 is one of my favorite movies. 1 and a half years experience. Make some homebrew magic items and subclasses. Will make magic items for free just message me
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I am a "new" DM and I try to create a world with 3 Gods. But i find it hard to scale everything out, and I can't find good names for the city's and villages. And I don't know if I want to do milstones or XP. So if a DM with more experience than me can help me, I would really appriciate it.
(Sorry for my bad English, I am Dutch.)
On the Poll: You should just have Elves, Dwarves, Aarakocra, and Humans. If you can't decide among them, then have all of them.
Scaling Everything Out: if you can give me a little more idea what you mean here (I am interpreting it as meaning building everything out), I might be able to help.
Worry about Milestones or XP after you have a fleshed out adventure. Worry about the adventure after you have the world built.
Don't hesitate to use generators. There are gazillions of them. Here is a partial list c/p from the "tips & Tricks" forum in a post pinned to the top:
D&D Compendium Over 700 online resources for Dungeons & Dragons players and Dungeon Masters alike.
Ultimate D&D Resource Collection primarily a collection of adventures and other material from the 5E playtest, apparently put together by one James Firth
RK's D&D 5E treasure generator Adjust some setting, and automatically generate a treasure for your players to obsess over.
Fantasy Name Generators Name generators for a very wide variety of categories.
Chaotic Shiny a long listing of random generators, from characters to holidays to simple maps. Not D&D specific
Rangen another listing of random generators, also not D&D specific
Donjon - Great set of tools for everything Random. Names, NPCs, Quests, Loot, you name it.
Dungen - DunGen will generate high resolution dungeons ready to use in your favorite virtual tabletops.
My process is usually I start with a very rough idea able to be described in a single sentence abotu the world.
Then I do rough ideas of what I want the cultures to be -- in my specific case, I pick two cultures and a genre (western, gangster, fantasy, historical) and then write that out.
Then I start on the map, thinking as I go about what I want to see. For a simple world, I have done a big valley (only a few miles wide and a few miles long, in a big oval) and had everythign happen there. It had all the kinds of places I like to do stuff in.
The "world" doesn't have to be big. Most "worlds" in books are only a small area of the larger planet. I like to always have a dark forest, a jungle, a swamp, a desert, stuff like that. So once I get a good outline, I just figure out where those should go, then add in my cities (a cit for each culture to start).
Once I have a rough idea of the world, I start thinking about my bad guy minions -- the enemies and monsters that the players will face, and where they will live and how they live and so I start the real building with them. They are the source of conflict, and so I need to know a lot about them -- why they do it, how they do it, who leads them, that kind of thing.
Then I do the next pass over the cutlures so I have a better idea.
Finally, I start to dive into the details, using a basic approach that I have used many times:
Cosmology, Gods, Physical World, History, Social World, Fables/Myths/Legends
Cosmology is the Planes and the things that live there, why the planes are, how they work with each other.
Gods is just that -- the Gods. I also describe how they are worshipped, who worships them, what they do, and how involved they are in the world.
Physical world is the physical features -- using the map I talk about the natural features of import. Then I break into the kinds of critters, the weather and climate, and strange features.
History is just that: the history of the "good guy" parts of the world -- the places the PCs come from.
Social World is any common customs shared among them all, then I do tighter breakdowns of each culture, and then I get into trade and commerce stuff -- who has what resource, how it is moved, and the like.
The last bit is just the fables, myths, heroes, stories, and other things -- I draw from ideas that come to me as I create, from in jokes among my player group, from past games, and from existing myth and legend, and mix it with the history that was written, and then sprinkle it in.
I, however, am someone who deeply enjoys world building, and I have been doing it for decades, so I tend to be way more developed than other folks.
A world can be as simple as a map with one city, one town, and one village. It can be as complicated and involved as Forgotten Realms, or something in between like this example.
Don't try to do everything. Leave yourself room to grow.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
For naming, I use the following methods which helps so much!
1. Synonym/Antonym - If the town is full of lumberjacks and their export is wood, I would look up a synonym for wood, lumber, etc
2. Foreign Language - Same as above but I would find the word for wood in another language
3. Anagram - Same town, I would use an anagram such as Odow, Owod, etc OR Ulmber, etc
For Milestone vs XP, Milestone is easier. Less math to do. You can plan level ups after every few combats/session, etc.
***Happily Forever Dungeon Master***
Trying to be active in the community and help those in need
STR: 12 INT: 12
DEX: 14 WIS: 17
CON: 14 CHA: 14
I recommend starting with a small area and building from there. Anything further away than a days travel from the start location can be nothing more than a name, like Blackpeak Mountain or the Shattered Plains, with very little information about them - try to pick something you feel you could build on. "Grey Mountain" is a lot less evocative than "Blackpeak Mountain" or "Snowcliff".
Pick a start location and a rough idea for an adventure, and build from there. Once you have just enough to introduce players, get some players, and ask them for backstories. Work with them, and things will happen - if they need a place in the world for their backstory, don't say no, say yes - and write it in!
Examples of places and things included in my world which only exist because of player backstories include: a tavern with a fighting pit, a kingdom once ruled by metallic dragons, a holy order of the golden dragon seeking to reclaim the dead dragons scattered horde, A mages guild on 13 huge boats on a floating lake, An underground upside-down forest called Styx, and an entire pantheon of Nordic gods who have a large role in the world, to name a few.
Then let them loose on the world. I have an entire sewer system below a town, complete with underground thieves guild and an evil gnome overseer, because one character decided to jump onto a boat with her horse as it escaped into the sewer. An entire library because the players wanted to research something. You will be amazed at how important it is to worldbuilding that you build what the players are looking to find.
You then need to gauge when to say No. For example, if you have already filled a high street with shops from the party shopping trip, if they come back and look for a different tye of shop, you can say "no, this town doesn't have one", because you've filled it up. If they go somewhere new and look, what do you know? they have one! (write it down).
The big broad options - who should be dominant, as your poll asks - are details that won't have big effects on the players. You can pick any of the above and your world can still be rich and full, and your players will still be looking for a shop that sells magical belts.
Everything you add to the world which the players aren't looking for is good, but it's not making the world more playable, it's making it feel fuller. It's good stuff to add, but it's best to try and make it relevant to a plot, or what they want to find, or to a backstory!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
My creative process to world building is have one idea, and build the world around that. The campaign world I have just recently built started out as just a big hole in the ground. Big hole was the idea I came up with to build the world around. The hole is now called the abyss and it is also I portal into the abyss. (The demon dimension) Any who, there are teams of mercenaries and researchers who have entire carriers around exploring this massive hole. You also have to ask yourself things like, how did this giant hole get here? Why is it here? Who put it here? how do people react to it? Just come up with one idea and build upon it.
There are name generators for everything online... just google, "city name generator" i am sure they have one for elves, dwarves etc etc
You do not need to create the whole world. Your players will not absorb a novels worth of lore quickly. Start with an area, village, tribe, etc. Have two or three legends/myths/plot hooks. Have the players tell you in advance which they will bite on and create that first adventure.
Have your players tell you the name of their deity and home town. Leverage their creativity and build a world together.
Search for Sly Flourish - Spiral Campaign to get info about the concept.
Your best players will have creativity they want to share. Let them. Make it the group's world.
Best wishes,
pFrak
How do you create a good world? You do so by answering why you need to create one in the first place. For me, it was because during 3rd and 4th editions the established settings had the fingerprints of a too simplistic morality all over them. I wanted complexity that I couldn't find in Oerth. Having that telos is the direction you need in order to answer questions on the construction of the world. The choice you're facing can only be made in service of a goal. It's arbitrary which three species and which leveling system you use, except insofar as those choices help to accomplish something. Do you want to get away from humans as the default species? Do you want to guide player progression with out-of-depth danger? If you don't have an answer, don't worry--you won't make a wrong choice so long as you try to learn from the experience and to tell a better story next session.
My advice is DON'T create a whole world. Unless you love writing out ideas of places, gods, NPCs etc, there is no need to write a 50 page document with an appendix full of maps. Your players won't explore it all and it is a waste, unless this is a creative outlet you love.
Make up a town with 2-4 key districts or buildings, 2-4 key NPCs. A few gods. Then a tight adventure set in the town or the nearby countryside. Add to it as you go and need more terrain to explore. You can add on a library, a keep or a nearby ruin as suggested by previous authors when you need those areas on subsequent adventures.
In my opinion, there is no reason to create 9 continents, 25 races and hundreds of cities.
I am going to post my favorite town below. You are welcome to steal all of it, or none of it. It is pretty succinct, but I think it provides plenty of key elements to build on.
Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
Riverfast Overview
Riverfast is a walled town built on river trade. It was only founded in the last 20 years by Duke Rigsby. He is of questionable moral character and sometimes unscrupulous. However, he aggressively works to protect the town and the surrounding industries of trade, forestry, fishing and mining of gold, coal, iron, and gems. He taxes those products and the trade on the river, amassing a sizable fortune in the process.
Riverfast is located on the corner of two rivers. The smaller tributary, Iliun, runs from West to East, feeding into the Agnin. The Agnin river is a broad, meandering river. Fed from snow melt and smaller tributaries to the South, at Riverfast, it is already a half mile across. Riverfast lies on the western bank, towards the unexplored wilds. It eventually dumps into the ocean, a few hundred miles to the north. A large town is rumored to be at the mouth of the river. The east bank of the river is a wide delta of rich silt, supporting farms that feed the city. Seasonal labor lives in the city and crosses the river to work, while many of the full-time farmers live on the east bank. Far to the east are more civilized lands.
Dark Pine Forest is to the south of town. Much of the forest is unexplored and all is uninhabited. Few people venture into the forest at night but there are loggers in the regions closer to town although many sleep inside the walls at night. They haul the logs down to the river, form rafts and then sailors float them down to the mouth of the river. Sometimes, other goods are placed on top of the rafts to be carried to market as well. 30-50-foot-long flat-bottomed boats (Gnarr) sail and row the river as well. The docks and wharves team with activity. It would be a large, prosperous city if it wasn’t so dangerous and if the ruler was more benevolent.
To the west are the Iron Hills. Some of these hills have mineral deposits which have attracted a few dwarves, like Brudock Greatbinder. Conditions in the mines are difficult, although there is potential for wealth if a miner finds a valuable mineral; many mine owners give bonuses if a particularly valuable resource is uncovered and there are at least steady wages otherwise.
There is little magic in the area and it is generally distrusted. Warriors abound as everyone is conscripted into the town guard. Weapons and blacksmiths are also plentiful. Some thieves are also around, attracted by the growing trade. There are rumors of some of the thieves coordinating their heists through a loose network. Although the townsfolk do not have many material possessions, the docks are loading and unloading cargo all the time.
Riverfast Gods
Tanis is the god of trade and water, especially rivers. His priests help mollify storms, help sailors and commerce. The priests wear a fish as their symbol and dress in a deep blue cloak. Tanis is sometimes depicted as a tall man with a fishing net. His temple is at the confluence of the Agnin and Iliun rivers.
Ehlonna, the god of love and healing is also worshipped in this dangerous land. Her priests heal injuries, cure poison and even raise the dead. They wear a shining golden sun medallion. Ehlonna is sometimes is depicted as carrying a harp or blindfolded, as she cares for all living creatures. Her temple is in the center of town.
The god of the forest is Sylvanna and she is worshipped by the lumberjacks and others who venture into the woods. There are rumors of a druid enclave, deep in the Dark Pine Forest. The clerics revere the long needle pine and hornwood tree. Their symbol is a pair of crossed arrows. They often wear green or brown.
Nerull, the god of death, murder and darkness is also known but not worshipped. People fear his name. His red robed clerics are not allowed in town and in some places are hunted down. It is rumored that some of his clerics walk the streets in disguise.
A monk, Talmudiem, created a shrine in the woods outside of Over the Iliun. The town has slowly grown up around it and a market now surrounds the shrine. The monk is always proselyting the populace to worship the relatively unknown god of justice, Galil. He has had few converts but soldiers on, regularly committing acts of benevolence with the sparse donations. The shrine contains a small figurine of a large man with a heavy war hammer.
Key People in Riverfast
Sam Sturgeon is a local merchant who sells weapons to the town guard, hunters and adventurers. Sam’s store is in the center of town. He occasionally carries magic items and can often identify enchanted items as well. His brother is Radin Sturgeon. Radin works with Sam but is more focused on running boats up and down the river and trading goods with other merchants. Their office is near the docks.
Brudock Greatbinder is a dwarf who owns a mine in the Iron Hills. He recently came upon a vein of arcanite, which was sold for a fortune to merchants at the mouth of the river. Although Brudock made some money from this, much went to the Duke and the middlemen.
Duke Rigsby is the local lord. Some question whether he is a duke at all. He founded the city about 20 years ago. He is an avaricious man, which impedes the stability and progress of the town for all. Do not cross him as he does not tolerate dissension and insubordination. He does have a vested interest to maintain peace and order, but a benevolent ruler he is not!
Rex Gar is the chief of the town guard. He is a mountain of a man, gregarious, boisterous and with a love of strong drink, which he can put away in enormous quantities. His nephew, Roland Gar, died in a pie eating contest recently. Everyone blames it on poison. Roland was worried someone was planning to steal Brudock’s arcanite before it could be shipped downriver.
Eldwick the Hermit lives in Dark Pine Forest, a few hours from town. He grows a variety of plants and makes potions and poultices for the locals. Especially exotic potions are sometimes shipped down river. No one knows how he can live unprotected in the forest but he seems to make it just fine. He comes into town every few weeks to sell his wares.
Key Areas in Riverfast
Life is centered around the main docks, which are at the confluence of the rivers. Ships load and unload goods here. Many merchants live next to the wharf, including the Sturgeons. The best inn in town, the Drunken Mermaid, is here as well. The Temple of Tanis looks out over the confluence of the rivers.
The butchers and tanners are just west of the docks. Their district has a distinct, malodorous smell and they soil the Ilium with their waste. There is no dumping allowed in the Agnin!
The Temple of Ehlonna is a large, columned edifice just west of the docks. Many villagers regularly come to the temple and a small market has sprung up around it, selling animals for sacrifice, incense, and numerous every day necessities.
The Duke’s Borrough and the Government District hold several governmental buildings. Many employed by the Duke live here. It is well off for the area. An open area south of the keep serves as a parade ground. Gallows are erected here when needed. The Merry Jester tavern overlooks this open space.
Smith’s District and Logger’s Row are poorer areas that attract many common laborers. The proximity to the gate and forest is an obvious attraction to the loggers. The nearby Southern Gate Market sells a variety of necessities. The Jumping Fish Inn is a stop for many who come in through the southern gate.
Over the Ilium is an area of town that has developed over the last five years or so. Land is cheap but there are no walls, a real drawback in this dangerous area. There is a small dock on the Ilium. A shrine to a new god, Galil, has been erected in a market. An old man, Talmudiem, is seen in the market every day, taking alms for the god and preaching to the masses. The Over the Ilium market is the larger and older of the two markets on this side of the river and is towards the east.
Velstitzen
I am a 40 something year old physician who DMs for a group of 40 something year old doctors. We play a hybrid game, mostly based on 2nd edition rules with some homebrew and 5E components.
My two cents... Imagine the culture that you want your people to have... Is it like anything on Earth, can you Google towns in Germany?
TOTALLY do milestones! It speeds things up so much...
And, you want to make a great world? Write a story about two citizens of your world. Nothing to do with your characters. Just a story you write to create two people in your new world. Give them stories, make them NPCs later, I don't care. The exercise will give your world life and inspiration.
I would start with a small village. decide how people in the village make money. okay now lets say that they make ships. now make a simple inn that the party can stay at and add small little details and make a unique barkeep. Perhaps the inn is a place where the town guard usually drinks or where shady individuals lurk. make a small history of the town like a famous warrior grew up there. Whats the gossip and news around town? Make sure to add intrigue for players. Expand outward and add the history of the town to other areas around there to make everything match up. As you create small details you will expand the story and make it enjoyable for your players. And remember that its always okay to change stuff and be flexible. Also use milestones because its fun and its WAY EASIER
PS, this is how i made my first campaign
Mythology nerd. 300 is one of my favorite movies. 1 and a half years experience. Make some homebrew magic items and subclasses. Will make magic items for free just message me