How Much World Building Will I Do?

The answer to that is way less than you might think. With world building the question is always, how much do you need for that first session. And in this case there are a few more things to consider as well. It is how much world building do you need for that first session but also how much world building do I need to do for character creation?

Reminders

This is the hook that we are going with.

No one would mistake you for the heroes of old. They are now something of legend as were the monsters they faced. The demons of old were locked away. How do you know, because you live right outside one of those dungeons. Something strong is starting to happen around the dungeon though. The terrain is changing and you don’t know why. Some thing it is a sign that the seals are weakening. But if that’s the case, who is supposed to stop them. You are tasked to find those heroes from one of the larger towns and are sent out with provisions, a map, a well wishes.

And our first arc is going to be what I dubbed The Realization Arc which is going to be focused on understanding that things breaking down. That is it, and for the first session it is all about the inciting incident. What is going to draw the players to even investigate or understand that something might be happening?

What The Players Need To Know

Let’s start out with this to understand what the players are going to need to know. A lot of it is going to be pretty general, and some of it is going to overlap with what I need to know, as the Dungeon Master for my first session.

Let’s start with the big picture items, the starting location in general terms. And any particular details about the world, magic level for example, that players might need to know.

The Starting Location – Tennoch

Tennoch is a small agrarian town. It hasn’t grown that much because it’s not on any major trade routes but it is one of the larger towns in the area, maybe a thousand people. You are in this town or from this town because of connections to it.

General World Knowledge

This is a world where magic is a thing but not common place. Most people know of magic as something that happens in large cities or something that the gods bestow upon the people. For a small town, a wizard, sorcerer, or warlock would be unique. But a druid, cleric, or paladin might be more common.

It’s also a world where technology is fairly limited. Things like explosives might exist but are known in whispers and are rare and considered extremely dangerous.

Finally, while Tennoch is technically part of the kingdom of Meldros, Tennoch doesn’t have much to do with Meldros. Maybe every couple of years an official accompanied by a knight will show up and ask for some taxes, but there is no set schedule it just seems to be whenever the Queen needs more funds. At least you assume it’s still the Queen.

Why These Details for the Players?

So first it is a little bit about the starting location. It let’s the players know what type of setting there are in and what sort of background they could be picking. It’s a small but larger town for there area. But at only a thousand people at most, it isn’t going to be that much. The outlying villages near them probably come there for trading when a merchant shows up twice a year to restock some goods.

As for the more general knowledge. By naming the land, it lets the players know a little bit more in case they wanted to have moved in. It also sets what sort of rule it is and sets how little characters might know about the lands.

The other two give the players an idea of the sort of world it is in general. Low technology and medium magic. Magic is something that exists and people know about in a town. In fact, they probably have a temple to some god or gods in this town. So there is a cleric, possibly, but it would be a low level cleric at best with probably works more off of knowledge of medicine to heal than magic.

Session One World Building

So as I create for myself I am going to go with a more standardized way of doing it. That is going to be using name, defining feature, brief description which I lay out in my Dungeon Master Tools World Building article.

The Town – Tennoch

Defining Feature: Agrarian town, largest in probably 100-150 miles
Brief Description: While the town seems bustling compared to others in the area, it is very small. Most of the trade in the town comes from neighboring villages and farmers who dot across the land. They hold a market once a week. And twice a year a traveling merchant comes through whom they know by name.

The Mayor – Wilfred Brumble

Defining Feature: Stout man with a large belly who came from out of town
Brief Description: He’s from out of town but he has been in Tennoch for years at this point. But his house stands out as being a slightly different style. But he fits into the town now and has married someone from the town, Madeline.

Shopkeeper – Denny and Olive Ansen

Defining Feature: Gnomes who love to gossip
Brief Description: They are very busy folks running their shop. While most people do their shopping at the market, Denny and Olive are the ones who have a shop that is always open. So when you need something you come to them. And the shop, Thimble Trades and Goods, is always open because they live in the back, so a loud knock will get them scurrying up front to help you no matter the hour.

The Shop – Thimble Trades and Goods

Defining Feature: Jam packed with odds and ends.
Brief Description: How Denny and Olive know where everything is is a great question. There are boxes and shelves crammed full of everything. Often times their shoppers will wait outside and the gnomes will scurry around finding things. That’s because it’s hard to get through spots for the dwarves and humans who live in the area. Thimble Trades and Goods is the only spot to get merchant goods when the merchant isn’t around because the owners send orders with the merchant every time to keep necessities stocked. And they prefer to trade than get coin at the shop.

Notable Farmer – Maggie Fern

Defining Feature: Strong halfling who loves to cook and drink
Brief Description: She’s short, strong, and won’t let anything stop her. But while she is bullheaded when it comes to getting work done and dealing with problems she is also caring. When someone is sick and they need help on their farm, she is the first to bring food and help. She also always will tell you to stop and have a drink if you happen to come by her farm. While you won’t gossip with her, it’ll be a good relaxing time.

Why Only These Things?

Firstly, I could fill out the town more. But if we go back to that first arc article I talked about how one of the things I want is for my players to help with the world building. In particular with this first town, I want them to have connections. So while I could certainly talk more about maybe who has an inn which would be small with a couple of sleeping rooms, a stable, and a larger room for eating, for example, I think that might be something that is defined by the players.

So I want to keep it simple at this point. And I have plans in particular for the mayor and farmer in the first session or two so I want them defined. And a shop and shopkeepers are also good to have defined. You may not need them defined for your first session. I suspect that my players might want to shop because I know my players.

Final Thoughts on My World Building

You can see how simple I kept it. There is only a little bit of detail for the players and only a little bit for me. But now I know what I want my players to know going into character creation. And I know where I’m going to start my story and who I can work with as characters. Is there going to be more that I flesh out, yes. But some of that is going to be as I flesh out my session one. And I plan on doing that some next week so you can see how I lay out that session for the players.

Do you think that I need more world building done before I start the campaign? Or is this going to be enough to keep me going?

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Dungeon Master Tools – World Building

Let’s first start off by saying, read what I wrote on story arcs. It is here. And that is going to be the framework for this world building discussion going forward. Why, because it breaks it down and keeps it simple.

So let’s keep going with our example from there and let’s just recap it a little bit:

• Find treasure
• Fight Mid-level boss
• Learn about Big Bad
• Search for way to stop Big Bad
• Get information from wizard
• Find artifact
• Confront big bad

We start with find the treasure. And I broke that down even more.

• Find Treasure
  • Get party together and get quest
  • Find where the dungeon is and travel there
  • Explore dungeon

So now we’re down to “Get the party together and get the quest.” That is the point where you start your world building.

What Elements You Build

So, previously to this I talked about Session 1, you can find that here. And that gives a bit more context to this plan. The group gets a quest, they meet with the quest giver, they fight someone trying to stop them from going on the quest and they get more information about the location of the quest from an NPC. That is my plan for Session 1. And this is where I am going to pull out what elements I need to build.

I look at my description of what I want to do, I see two NPC’s in there. First there is the “Quest Giver” then there is the “Information Giver”. So I need to come up with stuff for both of them. I said in the Session 1 article, let’s have it be a bar where they meet the second NPC. So when I decide that location, that’s another thing for world building, what is the name of the bar. And I get a third NPC with the “Bartender”.

Next I want to ask myself some questions. Where do they get the quest? Where do they meet the “Quest Giver”? And finally, who do they fight? If I answer them with adventurers guild, their estate, and street gang, I now know a few more things for my world building, and that’s about it I need to do to get started.

Building The Elements

I’m going to give a couple examples of how to build. But we start at the top level and work down. And every element that I build is going to follow a standard format.

I want everything I do to have a pretty similar format. It doesn’t matter if it’s a location, country, NPC, they all are going to be pretty standard to try and make my life simpler as the Dungeon Master. I want to have name, defining feature, brief description.

Example – Quest Giver

Name: John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt
Defining Feature(s): Snooty Aristocrat with too much time and money, also a triplet – all named the same.
Brief Description: He has a very fancy estate with lots of gaudy artwork, he himself is even more gaudy than his estate. And for a dwarf that looks out of place, but he doesn’t care and he is always talking about and showing off his wealth.

Example – Inn/Bar

Name: The Crooked Turnip
Defining Feature(s): Cheap as can be with a patronage that looks the same.
Brief Description: From the outside The Crooked Turnip looks like it shouldn’t be open and for a bar, it’s not that noisy. From the inside it looks like it’s just locals, people down on their luck, and the alcohol is the cheapest swill that you can get. If you order the pot roast, you’re pretty sure it’s just turnips.

And that is it. So let’s count, we have the quest giver, the information giver, the bar, the bartender, adventurers guild, estate, street gang, town, and country. I count nine total things that you need to come up with details on, and general details. I think a tenth might be the treasure’s location, but again, not in much detail. You don’t need to know what else is in town really. If you suspect your players will go shopping, as players do, then maybe a shop, and a shopkeeper.

Could you do more. Obviously, but the point is to do as little as possible. And to make it as easy for yourself as the Dungeon Master as possible. Plan what you need only and don’t overthink it.

Final Thoughts on World Building

You probably know the theme for these Dungeon Master Tools, keep it simple. And I want to keep on banging that drum. I love drawing out a good map, but is it needed for a town or country, not really. And if you want to draw a map, start the map with a shape of the country the town, and that’s it. As you add to the world each session build out more.

The final bit of advice for world building is let the player help. They decide to set-up their base of operations at an inn. They get to name the inn. Make your life simpler by only planning for what you know you will need. And everyone pitches in for those surprise elements of the game.

So what is coming next for Dungeon Master Tools?

• Combat
• Exploration
• NPCs/Social Interactions
• Meta Game and Players at the Table

And let me know if there are other things to cover as well that you want to know more about, or help with. I think that there are a ton of different things that new Dungeon Masters are curious about or that feel intimidating. So I hope that I can help make them clearer and simpler for you.

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