Role-Playing World Building: Situation World Hooks

What about situation world hooks to pique the interest of your players? Even the most mundane seeming situation can be turned into something new with one small twist. Some famous books not only did that in the beginning, but also changed the situation during and thus changed the whole world that was being written and read. It gave the books a fresh new appeal.

You could have a class dominance situation where one type of the character has an unusual role in the world. Something like the thieves guilds could rule the major towns or magicians are so rare they are revered almost above the gods of your world. Or you could have a world that centers around the politics, intrigues, and rivalries of court and different kingdoms. Even those that have the same kind of court system could be enemies or disagree on whom to be friendly with. Here you could find various court systems throughout history and weave them into your kingdoms, even mixing different cultures court systems. Your world could revolve around chivalry and all that goes with it. Knights, nobility, and other facets would be the ruling class. This is similar to actual medieval history but again on twist can change it. The nobles might not be able to just pass it down to the sons but the daughters or knights might have to study under a squire of another knight before being able to actually become one.

Your deities could be very active in your world and make sure certain things do happen like they wish. It might take away some fun for those PC’s who want to defy the deity or don’t think they actually are making any decisions in your world. However it can also spawn some great adventures, such as how to bring the deity down so he or she is not more powerful than the rest of them. You could draw your players in with a dying world. Circumstances have brought the world to this terrible state and the PC’s must find a way to stop it and save mankind. Doing so will create a new situation for you to play so if your players get bored with this one you can easily change it when they save the world.

There could be a specific enemy that inhabits your world. They may not be one that wants to rule it, but others are frightened by them due to how they look, act, or plain ignorance. Along the same concept, you could have a world where civilization stops at a certain point and anything after that is enemy territory where monsters rule the land. All kinds of heroes might flock to this spot to make themselves known by getting rid of the monsters further into the region, which would make the monsters want to keep their own land.

There could be vast areas that have not been discovered yet in your world. Here exploration would be the primary goal of many. This does not have to be a young world either. It could just be that a great mountain pass has kept everyone out or those that have made it over have never returned. Or the world could just be new. Magic and monsters are not plentiful and the PC’s may uncover many things about the world to make them famous.

Magic could be in your world but not as you normally think. There could be spots it does not work right or at all. Or it could be that everyone has magical abilities and only those who really dedicate their lives to it excel with anything other than simple spells. On the same note, psionics could be dominate in the world. Here the mental powers of one could make them a god to those who do not have the ability.

Religion or technology could rule in the world. Here the PC’s might need to find a way to bring down the ruling class or change something so everyone can benefit from what those in power have discovered first. Slavery could even be a factor where one culture is using another to do their work. War could break out all the time from those close and far away who do not like slavery or want it to continue. And warfare itself could be what rules your world. War has been going on for so long that no one knows what started it. Some cultures could switch sides on a whim and your players must find a way to stop it before it destroys the world or a certain culture.

Any of these situations overlap easily. This is probably one area where history can provide all kinds of hints of what you can play with and mix. You can always start with one and change it later if you don’t like where it is going. Who says that the thieves can’t have a battle within their own ranks and suddenly war breaks out everywhere?

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Cultures are a good world hook as well for a new D&D campaign. So much in history that can be used. Something different than what you are used to can cause some research on your part but it can be fun to learn about. And you never know a new kind of culture might just be what you need to get your players highly interested in a new game.
To start you could create an African culture. Arid land, nomadic people, lots of sun in your world. An Arabian culture might be fun on the other hand. Sand and sun so your PC’s must know how to survive in the heat of the day and the cold of night. Water could be a precious resource, even more than money. It could be modeled after 1001 Arabian Nights if you wanted.
If you are a fan of Conan, you could have a culture based off of Barbarians. Vikings are sometimes lumped into this group. They are similar but not identical. Although if you desire they could be warring sides that started out originally as the same group. Both groups worshipped multiple gods so for a standard D&D campaign it would be easy to create a pantheon. Ancient cultures such as Egyptians, Greek, or other well known cultures can bring interesting flavors to your campaign. In these kinds of worlds, the gods are already created so that part of the work is done. You just have to make the land and people. Tribal or savage people could make an odd world. Who is really the bad guy in something like that when what one group does for their gods, another thinks is against the gods? War might be constant and groups might be friends one day and enemies the next.
Feudal or Renaissance times from England are some standard cultures used in D&D campaigns, but there is nothing that says you can’t create one as well. If you know the history well enough you will not have to do much research to create everything you want. There is even Post-Renaissance where gun powder is in control and knights are no longer the ruling fighters.
An Oriental culture could go with several other cultures. You can have a Medieval China, Japan, or India. Or perhaps a combination of all three if you wanted to mix elements you liked from each one. Native American worlds would be another interesting culture to use. The people hunt to survive and don’t waste anything. There could be those who are trying to get out of this lifestyle or even those trying to exploit one aspect of the culture for their gain over everyone else.
And of course you could have a mercantile world where trade and commerce would rule the world. Or even a seafaring world where most of the people own or work on boats. It might actually be better to add this with another culture like Feudal for a different kind of world.
Any of these can be combined for a new flair. Even the most famous cultures can be changed slightly to make it more fun and really get your players wanting to play. You might even ask them for some input. They could come up with ideas you didn’t think of.

Another good world hook would be sites of interest. Any place can become something different if you just use your imagination to get away from the normal. Or even something that seems ordinary can suddenly change with one thing different causing your characters to want to explore and find out just why it is different. Here is some in-depth on sites of interest approaches.
Caverns are used the most in role-playing but they don’t always have to be about monsters. You could have a mineral deposit or whatever your highest form of money is, have a cavern with a newly discovered vein of that. Violence with people trying to claim it could bring the PC’s to investigate or even monsters trying to claim it as their own. Of course a simple monster lair works just as well for new adventures. Dungeons are similar to caverns but usually are more extensive. A cavern can actually turn into a dungeon at a certain level. It could be that the local town has an issue with a cavern close by but when the PC’s investigate, they discover the dungeon with the evil wizard.
Even though most adventures start in a city, you could have it start out in the wilderness and bring the characters to a city with a curse, overbearing ruler, plague that no one can explain where it came from, etc. Or the surface of the city could be normal but as the PC’s look for work they are drawn into the rogues’ underground world where things are worse off than someone not of that profession would know. In addition there are fortresses or strongholds where the PC’s could try to invade an enemy force or protect their own. Or they might try to discover who gave away the secret entrance for the one where they live to be overrun with ogres.
Ruins or shrines make interesting approaches. Ruins can have all kinds of enemies, magic, loot, or other things the characters are interested in finding. Even artifacts about the place could be what gets a PC to explore it. This could lead to discovery of a race lost to time or other such thing to give you more adventures later. Shrines in a way are similar, especially for someone who is not familiar with the religion. If there is a new religion out, the characters might go to the shrine to discover why people are flocking to it and be found as non-believers and must escape and save the rest of the people.
Starting in a wilderness can be an odd adventure. Why are they there, do they have a tracker, can they survive days without visible food sources? Are they looking for a new way across an otherwise inhospitable landscape? Whatever might make your characters think and want to stay here. Or you can really make your characters ask questions by having an adventure that is extraplanar. Other planes of existence from where they live and breath are where they find new creatures to fight and survive against. Is there maybe a rift where those vile creatures could get to their world and take it over so they must close it to save their own? Are there friendly extraplanar creatures to help them? Anything odd can work in this format but might take even more work to create.
Whatever sites you chose realize that you can mix and match any way you like. It may seem to start one way and then switch to a different type of area. All of them can be big or small as you want them to be and can be expanded later if you find it is not enough.

Having your world hook from a climate or landform approach can have some interesting adventures based on how the land is or isn’t shaped. It can bring up questions as to just why the world is this way and not normal. Piquing your players’ curiosity will get them interested in exploring and they may ask you something you had not thought about, which can help you create an adventure down the road. Here is some in-depth on climate or landform approaches.

If you use an aerial approach most of the action would happen in mountains, ships, and other flying things. In an inland sea or lake approach a major body of water is surrounded by land. This could be from something in the past that caused the body of water to end up this way and be a source of adventure all on its own. Archipelago where there is no real continents but many islands so water would play a big part in your campaign. Again this could be a source of adventure or adventures all on its own. For an oceanic hook there would basically be no land to speak of. It would be all islands, big and small. Kingdoms could exist on a single island or across several that were near each other. Water creatures would abound and anything with sailing would be a prominent profession.

If you want to go another way you could also have arctic world, where it is cold everywhere. This could just be how your world is or again some change that occurred from a past event. A desert land only would be interesting to create since water would be scarce and more than likely a source of wealth for who had the most. Fights to control water would probably happen between rivaling leaders.

Then there is the approach of forest being the majority of your world. In this kind of environment agriculture would be scarce and most people would be hunter/gatherers. In a jungle landform trees again would cover most of the land but this time they would create a hot, humid environment. This again would make agriculture very hard to do.

Mountainous terrain would get your players attention by not having much land to build evenly on. Travel would be more difficult in this kind of landform since it would always be uphill or down and slides during all kinds of weather would be prominent. Opposite of that would be a plains/steppes environment where the land was mostly flat. Great for agriculture but nomads are sure to be abundant as well. So would there really be true cities in this kind of world? A subterranean world would be highly unusual. Creatures are adapted to the dark and light makes their eyes hurt. Other ways to stay healthy without the sun have been adapted. Questions such as where and how would people farm for food would be in the front of your players minds?

Swamps and uninhabitable areas could abound making it difficult for large populaces to thrive as well as unstable areas that constantly change. And even volcanic or unusual weather patterns could make your players wonder just how they will survive anything.

With Independence Day today, I thought a nod to the undertones in movies to this was appropriate. It wouldn’t seem like there would be that many but in fact there are some everyone when you start to look at things in different ways. Many of them are about getting out from tyranny but even that is independence.

BBC’s Robin Hood, one of my weekly posts, is definitely about independence from the evil Sheriff who is abusing his power while the king is away. In other versions it is Prince John who has this role and the Sheriff is just a helper. But Robin and is gang are always trying to thwart the bad person and gain independence for the people from the evil being done.

Movies such as Elizabeth, Krull, and Princess Bride have elements of this as well. Elizabeth may be the ruler of England but she is just a woman. And in the time period she lived, woman were considered inferior so she was not thought to be able to rule properly without a husband. Elizabeth is trying to get her independence from the Lords who want to rule the country for her. Krull has a prince who must save his girl from the evil creature that wants her for himself. The destruction of this creature will also set the entire world free from the vile minions he uses to get his way. Princess Bride is about gaining independence from Prince Humperdink who wants to use the Princess to start a war.

And there are games like Dungeons and Dragons where the gaming group many times is freeing people from this evil Lord or that Dragon who wants slaves to do their every whim. Not all adventures are like this but the majority are. Of course if you have players who like to be the bad guy you will be the one doing this.

Many entertainment forms are about independence in one way or another. They might be subtle but they are there. Some movies are specifically about this while others just have the elements of it.

A good world hook is essential to getting people interested in to your world.  You want them to know why something is the way it is and what makes it different so they will enjoy playing in your creation.  It will make your world seem alive and not the same as every other place out there.  You may have an idea what kind of hook you want to use.  There is nothing with that and if you already know what you want to do, go with it.  The idea may become the greatest place your PC’s have ever lived in.  However if you don’t know or want to add an extra element here are some ideas.

You can go with climate or landform hooks where the land is not normal.  This could cause the PC’s to not even know if they will survive normal life, let alone going on an adventure.  Places of interest could bring the PC’s to become the heroes that role-playing games make of them.  A specific culture could be the hook because it defies what you would normally see.  This could be like a desert in the middle of a lush oasis.  The rest of the world could be fairly normal and this one area where all the adventures happen or stem from.  A situation can peak someone’s interest in playing.  How did this world get this way, what caused this situation to be the dominant way of life here?  And even with the situation, is there any way to change it?  Finally what about something historical that is still part of the world today.  It could be an event from the gods of your world that do this or from the people who live in the world itself. 

Of course any of these can be combined to really make your world come alive.  You could have a landform hook with a culture.  And it can be something that you normally wouldn’t put together if you really want to peak your players curiosity.  I do caution against picking something that you know nothing about prior to creation.  You might think it sounds very interesting but is hard to actually create adventures for.  Before having your final say, do a little research on anything you don’t know so you can make the world come alive and be possible.  You are, after all, creating this to actually play in.

Look for the next part of this where I will go into further detail about hooks.  It might help you think of something you normally wouldn’t.

Beginning a world of your own can be scary. Even if you know how you want it to be, actually creating it can be daunting to the best DM. Of course you may only have a small idea what you want to create or just want to attempt this new venture so none of your players know the rules better than you. If you have no idea where to begin, a specific approach might be the key.

There are seven basic approaches according to the World Builder’s Guidebook from Wizards of the Coast. They are macroscopic, microscopic, sociological, character-based, situation-based, historical, and literary. Some of these are self-explanatory and others might be making your scratch your head. Let’s explore them a little so you better understand the approaches. Besides you might want to use one way now but find another that sparks other ideas. This could even mean you end up creating more than one world. And of course you can combine approaches to make the perfect world for you and your gaming group.

The macroscopic approach is where you would have the least idea what you want to do. You want to create a world and that’s all you know. If that is the case, keep watching my blog for the guide to do just that. The microscopic approach is almost the exact opposite. You start with a town, bog, something small that the PC’s will be moving around and build up. Some DM’s will even take an adventure they have played that is not affiliated with a specific setting and use it as their starting point. This way they don’t have to come up with the whole beginning. Or they change one aspect and go from there.

Sociological worlds are for someone who wants to base their world off a type of society or culture. Seafarers, nomads, Egyptians, Romans, etc are all examples of this. You can base the world off of a specific character or characters. This method is sort of a combination of other approaches because you will have a specific society or setting to focus on for the character.

If you want to use lots of hooks and concepts to grab a PC, the situation-based world is for you. Something unusual to make the PC’s go out and be adventurers. It could include magic working funny, dinosaurs, or other oddities that you may have only glimpsed in your gaming. Then there is the historical world. This is similar to situation-based but a little more specific. Here events that occur actually shape the world much the way a river will change the land it flows through. The literary approach for world building is the one where you want to use something from your favorite fantasy book in a campaign setting. Flattery is great so go for it. Just be careful of copyright infringements if you attempt to publish later on.

Of course which approach is best for you is the question you must answer. You can even combine more than one. You could have an oriental world where vampires rule. This would be an example of both the sociological and situation-based world combined. And yes you can use that if you want. I haven’t but it would make an interesting place to play. The creation is about what will grab your players and make them want to put a PC in this new, strange world and let them roam around meeting people and defeating bad guys. As the DM, it’s all up to you.

I am a dice junkie. I admit it. Ever since I began DMing D&D with friends I have loved dice. Yes I said DMing. I never played either. But when you have a bunch of friends that have never played themselves, with an exception of two who have no desire to learn the DM rules, you do it so the game can begin.
At first the excuse was that the DM needed a lot more dice than regular players. That is true to an extent. As the DM you are rolling for all the bad guys and sometimes more than one at a time. So having a lot of dice is a good thing to help with that. So I bought a few sets of dice and several extra ones that caught my eye. But as the years have gone by, and I haven’t played a game in about 10 years, I still can not go into a gaming store without browsing through the dice.
At this point I do try to limit myself by not buying random dice but full sets. You can easily spend a fortune on dice alone so there are some days that is hard to do. Not to mention that sometimes the colors or patterns on the individual dice are not sold in sets. Or at least in the store you see the individuals in. Course it could also be that the store breaks up some of the sets to make more money. I mean it’s possible since individual dice are more expensive per die than if you bought them in a set. I could be wrong too.
But sometimes you just can’t help yourself. You go in to the gaming store just to look around at the new books or figures and end up browsing the dice by the counter. And it’s not like you can skip looking at them. To make maters worse you find more than one complete set you like. And the next thing you know you have bought more dice. Honestly no two sets are alike although you do tend to buy a lot of the same color. Until you get bored with having all of one color and then branch out. It’s an obsession that will probably never end. And perhaps it shouldn’t. Showing them off is half the fun.

I have not played Dungeons and Dragons in many years. I still love the game and would like to get back into it. I even have some people who would be willing to be in my group when I do start back up. However it hasn’t happened yet. When I did play all those years ago, well I actually never played I DM’d right off the bat, I had a subscription to Dragon magazine and bought Dungeon magazine when I found one that had an adventure I wanted to throw at my players. And I could find the magazines at any major book store. However that is not the case anymore.
Since I got out of playing the game, I only occasionally look for the new magazines. But since the new edition is out I am highly interested in seeing what the new magazines have in store for DM’s and players. So today when I was out shopping, I decided to go to my local Barnes and Noble and pick up the new Dragon and maybe Dungeon magazine. I could not find either in the magazine section nor the D&D gaming section. I double checked to make sure I didn’t miss it too. I did that because the last time I looked for the magazines there and saw them, they were in the men’s sports section. That was weird because they used to be in the video game section.
Apparently Wizards of the Coast, the company that owns D&D, decided to stop selling the magazine in regular stores and only sell them in gaming stores. Or perhaps the regular book stores did not sell enough copies to continue selling the two magazines. But since there are so many magazines out these days I have trouble believing that might be the case. I even called the local Books and Co, another big book store, and they don’t carry the magazines either. Before Barnes and Noble existed I know I used to buy the two gaming magazines at Books and Co. It was disappointing to say the least. I know I can buy them at my local gaming store but some times it’s easier and faster to get it at a book store. Especially if the gaming store closes at 5 pm on a Sunday and the book store is open until 9.

Almost all game masters of role-playing games at some point want to create their own world for their group to have adventures in. It sounds like a neat concept because you can set up all the rules, have your own races and gods, whatever cultures or other ideas you think would be fun to play in. However creating it can also be daunting because you may not know where to begin. It might be much easier than you think.

World building can actually take years depending on many factors. Time, effort, how creative you can be each session you work on your world and various other things can determine just how long it does take you to create your own place. Building a world does not necessarily mean you hope to write the next best seller, but it might be a dream. It is a personal thing when you build a world; you are the highest god in this place that people will one day inhabit.

There are two basic ways to start and neither is better than the other. One is starting with the world itself and going to smaller and smaller sections as you create. The other is beginning with a town or city and expanding out. You can, of course, go with a combination of them; it is all up to the creator.
The best book I ever found to help is the Advance Dungeon and Dragons World Builder’s Guidebook. It is invaluable, I think, for when you get stuck or to give you ideas you might not have otherwise thought of. I am not sure if this book is still available, or has been updated for the newer editions of D&D, but it is here that I still go to create my own world for both role-playing and writing.

I will have several blogs on this topic. There will probably be several things you did not think of yourself and could even spark a new idea for a whole new world or something unique for the one you are already creating. I will use excerpts from the World Builder’s Guidebook, because as I said, it is the best I have seen. So stay tuned for more help to create the perfect world for your players.