That’s actually not a bad suggestion. I also think that it is a great way to tell your players: „hey, this is maybe just a small village, but there is a whole cosmos out there for you to discover“.
I love this step. My current game was made by the primordials splitting into the axiomatic elementals and the chaotic fae, defining and expanding all of physics and dreaming magic. Lots of binaries.
I like the idea of starting with a creation myth. I don't think you need to be thinking about 20th level when you start though. I've been playing 15 years and never made it past 8th level 😅
The Book of Ages from 13th Age is a fantastic book with a great system for writing the history of first 12 ages of your world. And its a collaborative system with the whole group. Building the world together also means the players start the campaign already invested and interested in the world. And can build characters that fit seamlessly in it. Even if you're not playing 13th Age, it's great to check out and can easily port to any system.
I developed a framework for the history of my world, but it's less a world-spanning narrative than it's bullet points about the early history of the world that Ive used to influence the fleshing out of local areas. I like to think "sure this event at Year X was really formative and important to life on this world, but how many people in pre-modern times knew about Ancient Babylon despite using 7-day weeks, 24-hour days, 360 degrees, etc?"
I think this is a great idea for inspiration, but it should be noted never to expose this information in long form dialog. Let the players uncover bits and pieces from context clues to drunken tales of old wars. As a player I’ve never retained a creation myth by DM exposition alone.
Question. You said "it wouldn't let your players add to the world" How can the players add to the world, when it's your story? Why use a creation myth? Would not the various inhabitants have different creation myths?
Players can add to the world a lot, for example through their backstories. You just have to let them. For example, when I was planning my campaign, one of my players wanted to play a character from a city that I only marked on a map to make the map look a bit fuller, so I let them come up with all the details about the city, including some points of interest, culture, general vibe and so on. It saves a ton of time for the DM, makes your world richer, and makes the player feel more connected to it when they actually made some of the stuff on their own.
I'm gonna play devil's advocate and argue that the creation of the world largely doesn't matter for the players, and therefore isn't a necessary place to start. Each of the characters might believe in a different creation story, and ultimately I don't think the truth has any effect on the world. It _is_ important to start worldbuilding by establishing gods, but I don't think you need to worry much about how they came into being-just what their goals and struggles currently are. That's what's going to make a difference when your players get to 20th level. Ultimately, I just don't like when DMs explain the creation story to the players right off the bat. It doesn't really matter. If it's a good story tool for creating your world, great, but players usually just care about their own backstory and destiny, so unless they're an acolyte background or a cleric class, they probably don't need to know so you can focus on other worldbuilding aspects at the start.
Yeah totally fair! I don't think you need to tell the creation story to your players, because as you mentioned, the characters have their own beliefs. But I've just found it to be a helpful tool for myself to make decisions about the world if I know how it began. But the most important thing is that you do what works for you!
If you're going to bother to include religions and gods, and you are, it has to matter to both the world itself and to the cultures therein. And the gods aren't always the creators or the most powerful beings. In many mythologies, the current gods are second or third generation from the creator. And in some fiction, they are even killable by mortals, if only by the mightiest of heroes and under special circumstances. (For example, Saberhagen's Book of Swords Trilogy, or Moorcock's Chronicles of Corum, also a "Swords" trilogy.)
That’s actually not a bad suggestion. I also think that it is a great way to tell your players: „hey, this is maybe just a small village, but there is a whole cosmos out there for you to discover“.
Love it when my strategy for worldbuilding and preparing campaigns is affirmed :3
I love this step. My current game was made by the primordials splitting into the axiomatic elementals and the chaotic fae, defining and expanding all of physics and dreaming magic. Lots of binaries.
That's a very cool one! I love that idea
I like the idea of starting with a creation myth. I don't think you need to be thinking about 20th level when you start though.
I've been playing 15 years and never made it past 8th level 😅
Thanks for the inspiration! I'll try writing a creation myth for my recently started campaign!
The Book of Ages from 13th Age is a fantastic book with a great system for writing the history of first 12 ages of your world. And its a collaborative system with the whole group. Building the world together also means the players start the campaign already invested and interested in the world. And can build characters that fit seamlessly in it.
Even if you're not playing 13th Age, it's great to check out and can easily port to any system.
I'll check it out, that sounds really cool!
I developed a framework for the history of my world, but it's less a world-spanning narrative than it's bullet points about the early history of the world that Ive used to influence the fleshing out of local areas. I like to think "sure this event at Year X was really formative and important to life on this world, but how many people in pre-modern times knew about Ancient Babylon despite using 7-day weeks, 24-hour days, 360 degrees, etc?"
Great Video!Subscribed because of it(500th subscriber!)
Thank you so much!
Great advice
I think this is a great idea for inspiration, but it should be noted never to expose this information in long form dialog. Let the players uncover bits and pieces from context clues to drunken tales of old wars. As a player I’ve never retained a creation myth by DM exposition alone.
Question.
You said "it wouldn't let your players add to the world" How can the players add to the world, when it's your story?
Why use a creation myth? Would not the various inhabitants have different creation myths?
Players can add to the world a lot, for example through their backstories. You just have to let them. For example, when I was planning my campaign, one of my players wanted to play a character from a city that I only marked on a map to make the map look a bit fuller, so I let them come up with all the details about the city, including some points of interest, culture, general vibe and so on. It saves a ton of time for the DM, makes your world richer, and makes the player feel more connected to it when they actually made some of the stuff on their own.
I'm gonna play devil's advocate and argue that the creation of the world largely doesn't matter for the players, and therefore isn't a necessary place to start. Each of the characters might believe in a different creation story, and ultimately I don't think the truth has any effect on the world. It _is_ important to start worldbuilding by establishing gods, but I don't think you need to worry much about how they came into being-just what their goals and struggles currently are. That's what's going to make a difference when your players get to 20th level. Ultimately, I just don't like when DMs explain the creation story to the players right off the bat. It doesn't really matter. If it's a good story tool for creating your world, great, but players usually just care about their own backstory and destiny, so unless they're an acolyte background or a cleric class, they probably don't need to know so you can focus on other worldbuilding aspects at the start.
Yeah totally fair! I don't think you need to tell the creation story to your players, because as you mentioned, the characters have their own beliefs. But I've just found it to be a helpful tool for myself to make decisions about the world if I know how it began. But the most important thing is that you do what works for you!
If you're going to bother to include religions and gods, and you are, it has to matter to both the world itself and to the cultures therein. And the gods aren't always the creators or the most powerful beings. In many mythologies, the current gods are second or third generation from the creator. And in some fiction, they are even killable by mortals, if only by the mightiest of heroes and under special circumstances. (For example, Saberhagen's Book of Swords Trilogy, or Moorcock's Chronicles of Corum, also a "Swords" trilogy.)