GMs -- Don't we all want to roll our own?

[sgtcallistan]

Originally Posted by balzacq

Hm. Perhaps that's because at this point for me, "world creation" is something that's mostly going on continuously in the back of my head*. What I guess most would consider world creation -- making maps, detailing nations, etc. -- either gets done bit by bit during downtimes or takes the form of improvised elaborated versions of cocktail-napkin notes (presently kept in a wiki on my webhost), so it's not very time-consuming. Actual game prep is usually an hour or two at most of making notes for the upcoming session, done the afternoon or night before the game.
snip

There it is. That's what happens when I write game scenarios (except without the wiki).

I find the threads that go on about how much work is needed to have a functioning world, or how to rigidly stat a Jedi mind-trick for a rules lawyer, or how to convert the monster manual, to be irrelavent.

Let the idea bubble; let events, TV, music etc. spark ideas.
Write down simple aide memoires only: who, what, when, where, why.
Mix McGuffins and unalterable world events. Relax.
Prep is to re-load this stuff jus before a game.

-and then be prepared to wing it all anyway, and to change everything.

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by balzacq

But in thread after thread on these forums, I hear over and over GURPS has no ready-made worlds I'd buy GURPS if there was a supported setting Making my own world is too much work blah blah blah waaahmbulance. WTF?

Umm, should we consider pre-gen settings a resource for GMing-with-training-wheels?

On a personal note, we are just about to achieve five GM's out of five players in my gaming group. We ALL consider the solo creative aspect of setting part of the enjoyment. THEN we get to enjoy watching our friends trash it, take it apart, kill the carefully crafted NPC etc.

A metaphor could be buying a chainstore junk food meal, as opposed to cooking for yourself and friends. I'm being judgemental, aren't I...

[Gedrin]

Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip

A metaphor could be buying a chainstore junk food meal, as opposed to cooking for yourself and friends. I'm being judgemental, aren't I...

A better metaphor would be eating out as opposed to cooking for your friends. There's no garauntee of quality either way.


Personally, I prefer home grown, but mostly due to the idea of creative control. I ran Forgotten Realms for a long time, but got really tired of seeing things get world bombed frequently. The only really advantages to running a pre made setting are time and common frame of reference. When you begin to diverge from the published setting you begin ot loose the common frame of reference. That really just leave time as the advantage, but I found that a lot of time is spent on confirming facts or trying to find out if something is defined in the world source.

[balzacq]

Originally Posted by Gedrin

I ran Forgotten Realms for a long time, but got really tired of seeing things get world bombed frequently.

What do you mean by "world bombed"?

Originally Posted by Gedrin

The only really advantages to running a pre made setting are time and common frame of reference. When you begin to diverge from the published setting you begin ot loose the common frame of reference. That really just leave time as the advantage, but I found that a lot of time is spent on confirming facts or trying to find out if something is defined in the world source.

Isn't the common frame of reference a detriment in the long run? Personally, I would absolutely hate having a player say "but wait, in [canon source] it says [fact] -- how can you say [fact-prime]? What are you talking about? This isn't [campaign]!"

That's why I won't run Star Trek, Star Wars, Middle Earth, or the 3d Imperium. A "common frame of reference" means I can't freely make my own creative decisions -- and besides, I'm perfectly capable of building up a common frame of reference in the minds of my players that pertains to my worlds*.


* Example: toward the end of the first League of Tarregon campaign, I had some mountain tribesmen show up outside Startown with a herd of sheep. The players immediately commented that that seemed fishy, because the tribes only drove their sheep down during the rainy season, which it wasn't. (The tribesmen were in fact a war band there to raid the city.) I felt so proud. :)

[Bending Arms]

I feel so lazy compared to most here. When I GM, get the ideal of a place and make the rest up as I play. The ideal consist adventure set in some genre and as the player like the game I move where they want. I just write down Npc names and what they are doing in game. I do let ideas from books, comics, games, life, and TV filter themselves into the game. I do admit that the private throne room is my ideal chamber.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by balzacq

Isn't the common frame of reference a detriment in the long run? Personally, I would absolutely hate having a player say "but wait, in [canon source] it says [fact] -- how can you say [fact-prime]? What are you talking about? This isn't [campaign]!"

*shrug* No more a problem than rolling your own and, without something everyone can refer to, and get "but wait, during [some other adventure] you said [fact] -- how can you say [fact-prime]?", followed by someone else saying "Hang on, didn't he say [fact-double-prime]?" and ending up in a long argument about established or not-so-established fact. Everything's a trade-off, and this sort of thing depends on your players as much as anything else. The people I game with would be pretty forgiving about contradicting established fact either way.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by balzacq

Is it really the case that most GMs prefer not to create their own settings? Are most GMs merely consumers of world product who then "resell" to their players?[/SIZE]

I'm neutral on this question.

I've run campaigns in Glorantha, the interstellar world of 2300 A.D., the solar system of Space 1889, the Hong Kong of the World of Darkness, Transhuman Space, the world of In Nomine, and the Pearl Bright Ocean from GURPS Cabal—all settings created by game writers that had enough texture to strike me as worth exploring. I've run campaigns in the Uplift universe, the world of the Rick Brant YA series, the DC Universe, the world of Atlas Shrugged, Zimiamvia, Middle-Earth, the Buffyverse, and the Discworld. And I've run a dozen or so campaigns in worlds that were entirely my own invention. I have no problem with making my own, but if someone else's playground has enough rides to give my players a good time, I have no problem with using it instead.

Bill Stoddard

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by balzacq

That's why I won't run Star Trek, Star Wars, Middle Earth, or the 3d Imperium. A "common frame of reference" means I can't freely make my own creative decisions.[/SIZE]

The hell you can't. Fanfic writers have the acronym "AU" for a reason.

When I ran my first Middle-Earth campaign, I spent the first two sessions getting the PCs together, with a guarantee that they would come out at the end with exactly the traits that were on their character sheets: no deaths, no new lasting injuries, no new enemies. And I took them on a tour of Middle-Earth: Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Pippin, and Eomer dead at the Battle of Minas Morgul; Faramir killed in the final defense of Minas Tirith; Eowyn leading the Rohirrim refuges away from the overrunning of Rohan; the ents burned to death when Sauron captured Isengard; the Beornings slaughtered by orcs from the Misty Mountains; Elrond driven mad and opening the gates of Rivendall to the invaders; the Shire enslaved; the ships at the Grey Havens burned. It shocked ME what a grievous spectacle it all was. But by the time I was done, there was no question that this was MY Middle-Earth, to do with as I saw fit.

Bill Stoddard

[Sydney]

I've been running my own setting since about 1985 or so, I was 14 or 15 at the time, the family was poor and couldn't afford to buy settings, much less adventures. I have dabbled here and there with published settings, but have decided that I do prefer to work with my own material, though I see the appeal for others, especially the GM with little time on their hands or the Beer & Pretzles* crowd of gamers.

*used to signify more of a casual gamer, not as a perjorative, many in my group are of this style.

Edited to add: I did have a gamer once accuse me of not playing D&D properly because I ran a homebrew setting and not Forgotten Realms (he couldn't look up stuff from his multitudes of books as he had every 2e FR book that was out there)

[Steamteck]

I've always run my own settings and world. It gives me and creative freedom that prebuilt worlds don't. Heck my super hero campaign isn't even set on Earth but another world with its own complex history connected to my multiverse.

The trick is to start small and to add on as things are needed orcome up in play. We've been playing in my particular multiverse of multiple genres for over 20 years real time and its gotten very rich.