Campaign world: Where to start?

[Wildcat]

I'm not currently involved in any games, so in the meantime, I think I'd like to finally work up a custom campaign setting. Here's what I know I want so far:

• TL 3-ish, most importantly no guns.
• Fantasy, leaning more toward epic than sword-and-sorcery.
• Earth-like world in size, proportions of land to water, gravity, etc.
• At least some non-human races.
• Uncommon magic, rather than rare or everyday.
• Some fantasy staples -- dragons, giants, etc.
• Distant but active gods, and quite a few of them -- gods don't walk the world, but they're constantly sending omens, blessings, miracles, and disasters.

That's about all that jumps to mind so far. My challenge now is to flesh out the world, and I'm not sure where to start. Pantheon? Geography? Races/cultures? Details of magic? Identifying what the big bad is, and why?

Does anyone have advice for getting started with my campaign world?

Edit: FWIW, my GURPS library consists of the Basic Set, High-Tech, and Low-Tech. Recommendations for additions are also welcome.

[zuldan]

i would say gods and races. with the deities gives you an idea on who made what or at least why there is what there is.

for the races you can come up with there templates and culture.
figuring out what your races can do can aid in mapping out the world. opposed to making a world and then adapting races.

however lol if you want a more evolutionary approach in designing your races then making the world first would be best. As now you would have to create the races based upon what well be available.

Magic to be uncommon could be a gift granted by the gods to "chosen ones" represented by clerical investment and or power investiture. or even unuseal background (child of... ). this should keep it uncommon.

[hari]

You should definitely get Fantasy. That's the only one that really screams out to me that you need, although I'm sure a huge number of other things might be useful. Other useful books might include Martial Arts, Magic and Thaumatology, Social Engineering, some Power Ups books, Powers, and others I'm sure.

[Dustin]

It's easy to overthink how much you have to come up with ahead of time. Don't worry about having every continent mapped, remember that at TL3 travel and knowledge tend to be extremely local. Think about where you'd like the campaign to start and flesh that area and its history/languages/etc out, leaving the rest vague until you're willing to commit it to player knowledge. Your players are unlikely to want to wade through more than a few pages of world info too, so tailor what you prep to what actually makes it in front of the players.

As they move around, it can be very useful to have a text file or notebook page for each town they visit, so when they want to revisit the blacksmith who you made up on the fly when they needed one, you'll have his/her name handy, which helps create a sense of this world as a real place.

[Wildcat]

Yeah, pantheon seems like a good place to start. But I don't like the idea of magic being so much a gift from the gods, except maybe to the extent that Prometheus taught humanity to use fire.

I'll start with some of the, for lack of a better word, metaphysics of the world. The existence of the gods is a matter of little debate. While there are no recorded instances and very few legends of a god directly assuming a physical form on the world, the gods take a fairly active role in worldly affairs, in the form of visions, omens, prophecies, miracles, disasters, plagues, blessings, and curses. Maybe even angels; I haven't decided yet. The world knows nothing of interplanar travel, but many philosophers and theologians speak of a divine realm that is the home of the gods. Many religious texts and legends ascribe familial relations to the gods, although these references are entirely metaphorical. Similarly, descriptions of the gods' appearances are useful for iconography but have no basis in fact, and different races and cultures generally describe the gods differently.

Now on to sample gods.

Amesha
Amesha, often referred to simply as the Maiden, is a goddess of beauty and love. She is practically always depicted as a young woman of exceptional beauty, as defined by the local culture. Her teachings place love ahead of all other concerns. Amesha also has an affinity for flowers, butterflies, and colorful birds, owing to her appreciation of natural beauty. Temples dedicated to Amesha often have flower gardens, and finding a flower growing out of place is often seen as encouragement not to give up on unrequited love.

(Unnamed)
(Unnamed) is also known as the Goodwife, and is often described as the older sister of Amesha. Her spheres of influence include marriage and fertility (whether discussing children, livestock, or crops). Nearly every settlement includes a shrine to her, where weddings are blessed, and her clergy (almost exclusively female) serve as midwives. She teaches that fidelity in marriage will be rewarded, most often with plentiful, healthy offspring. Healthy multiple-births are considered one of the greatest signs of her favor.

What do you think of these sample deities? I wanted to start with members of the pantheon that would see a lot of attention in day-to-day worship. Upcoming deities will include gods of war, death, and others. I'm open to suggestions, as well.

[Grouchy Chris]

I would start with asking what kind of party is going to play in this world, and what sort of things are they going to be doing. Then I'd make a location designed to let them do that, and let the rest of the world take shape around that. If your players all want to be mercenaries, you could put them in a kingdom that's undergoing a civil war. If they want to be sea-traders, make a ship, a sea to sail it on, and a number of ports to visit. And so on. What kinds of gods, empires, ruins, mysterious islands and so on you put in should be there to provide a suitable stage for your mercenaries, traders, apprentice wizards, or whatever your players are going to play.

[Proteus]

I'd say come up with your "gimmick." What's special and unique about this world, whether because of the kind of game you want or the kind your players have asked for? If there's some big, easy-to-grab-onto concept defining the world, you may get easier buy-in from your players.

Is the campaign world not a sphere but a giant dodecahedron, with each face governed by one of the Olympian gods, eternally negotiating and squabbling with each other?

Or is the campaign's local area like the European continent, but with a gaping lowlands desert where the Mediterranean "should" be, inhabited by sullen lizardmen who guard their salt flats and mineral deposits from the elemental-powered airships launched by the people from above?

Or are the major civilizations of the campaign descended from older, fallen cultures, one of which practiced magical bio-tech and the other demon-summoning or elementalism?

Or is the campaign world locked in a conflict between ceremonial magicians, who can accomplish great arcane tasks when mustered in groups, and individualistic psions, who are less capable but can act on their own?

Most memorable worlds, in fiction or in gaming, have an obvious "hook" to them, whether it's something in the geography, the theology, or the politics. Giving your players such a clear, obvious marker, something on which much of the rest of the campaign background will hang, makes the immersion easier, without needing as much immediate cumulative background detail to see the subtler details of what's going on (though those can emerge, too, as the campaign develops.)

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Sit down and write a briefing for your players about the world that fits on one page. Ruthlessly cut out anything that won't fit on one page (but keep notes of any unused ideas for future development). Possibly add a large-scale (and inaccurate) map. Then write a briefing about the continent that fits one page. Then write a briefing about the country that fits one page. Add a fairly accurate but not very detailed map of the country and the neighboring countries just across the borders. Then work out the immediate neighborhood in as much detail as you think necessary to run the first adventures, including a decent map. As the campaign develops, develop new parts of the world as the adventures you come up with demand. Don't burden your players with excessive details that they don't need.


Hans

[Sir Tifyable]

I'd go with Grouchy Chris and say that the type of adventures you want to run will dictate the milieu.

Next I'd consider climate, because that will affect so much of the world's design and culture. Most fantasy adventures are set in a Northern European climate which makes it possible to wear armour without suffering heat prostration, and have the kind of environment that most British and American gamers would empathise with.

The gods are also driven by the climate - think far northern and you're looking at big husky Gods like the Norse. Southern Europeans have a different outlook - think of the Greek gods. African gods (at least those that we know about) are very different, less attuned to cities and settlements because of the nomadic society most of their worshippers have - they may have been different in the era of Great Zimbabwe, of course.

Technology is also climate-dependent. Think of the amount of power it takes to smelt metals - easy to do with the forests of middle and Northern Europe, less so on open savannah where they have to collect animal dung for burning.

Once you have the gods and the tech, other things can follow.

[Refplace]

I do a rough outline of the world and all its points and fill in as I get inspired.
I end to jump around a lot as filling out details on one thing may give me ideas for another. That helps add cohesion as well though.
A mission or purpose statement of campaign objectives and mysteries is also good to have around. I don't try and decide for my players what will be done but prefer to hand them a good list of options and will flesh out things in the direction they choose to go.
However if I am working with some regular players I have some likely ideas on what that might be and can do more prep work.