Creating a world for an RPG campaign does not have to be a solitary experience.
A lonely gamemaster sitting at a computer desk creating reams of material dreaming of friends who actually want to play role-playing games as desperately as he does is not a healthy state of being.
Have your players help you create the world you will play in. This makes your players more engaged in the campaign and it also cuts down your prep time.
Ask Your Players Questions
Start off by simply asking your players questions about the world and have them fill in the details for you.
What’s the countryside like here? Are we near the ocean? How big is the nearby town?
They can be leading questions if you have definite ideas of what kind of world or setting you would like.
In that case, you could say something like why have all the dwarves disappeared? Why has no one seen an elf for 300 years? How did the great empire of man fall?
Of course, they could be questions on a small scale as well.
Who founded this village? Who owns the inn? Why does your character wear a simple brass ring?
If the character is from a certain city, have the player describe the culture there.
If a player tells you that their character is from a certain city or land or continent, have them explain it to you. Why would you as the gamemaster take time to create a city that a player wanted in the world?
This also goes for other situations as well. If a player says her character is from a circus family, why would you create details about the circus? The player should do so.
This allows the players to be engaged in the campaign all the while saving the gamemaster time. I mean, you need to do other things instead of prepare for game sessions all the time, right?
Roll Dice
Another neat trick is to number your players. Say for instance you have 6 players, number them one through six.
The gamemaster rolls a six-sided die and whatever number comes up, ask that player a question.
It’s a fun exercise especially during session zero.
The Dungeons and Dragons Question
There is a school of thought in the RPG gaming community that says Dungeons and Dragons does not allow players to help create. All the burden falls squarely on the Dungeon Master.
Therefore, they say, an entire different RPG system is needed. If you want your players to help you create the campaign world, you need to ditch D&D.
So how do these systems solve the problem? Well, in the few that I’ve seen they introduce a new “mechanic” that says…
Wait for it…
ASK YOUR PLAYERS QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GAME WORLD
Seriously? Do we need to throw the greatest role-playing game ever under a bus for one that gives the GM a rule to ask your players questions?
Um, no.
Just play D&D and ask your players questions, so you don’t have to create everything.
Coming Up
More GM tips are on the way. Never miss a post and get free dungeon maps.
We us “A Spark in Fate Core” written by Jason Pitre of Genesis of Legend Publishing for world creation during session zero for just about every game system, not just for Fate. It has a great way of getting everyone to contribute something of interest into the campaign world.
One thing I have found that can be a lot of fun is to use a couple of different world/history building games to make the world as a whole table. What we have done during the ramp up of a new campaign is simple. First we use the Dawn of Worlds system to create a map and a general history of the world. We just do one full session of that(~3-5 hours). Then the next session We use Microscope system. Which is a history building system and you get to do some roleplaying as random characters during that one. The pros are that my players know the history of the world and are invested in the world. The cons.. Well one big con is That it is a really long start up. The cost of time is too high on new players and it doesn’t work unless the group is well established.