"Impressive. They can make planets."
-Maltz
I consider myself a 'World-Building GM'.
What does that mean exactly? Well, according to a definition by Merriam-Webster world-building is, 'the creation of a fictional world (especially within the science fiction and fantasy genres) that is believable and consistent within the context of the story'. Solid explanation I'd say. I would add that [good] worldbuilding creates a setting that feels alive as if it exists, or could, in some other time, place, or alternate universe.
As a World-Building GM, creating the setting and breathing life into it is my favorite part of the job. The best part of the TRPG hobby experience overall for yours truly is when one of my players shows interest in some element of the setting and decides to actively investigate it.
Since I run a lot of Space Adventure Science Fiction, it isn't uncommon for me to create a lot of worlds. A lot of a lot. Consider my Star Trek Adventures campaign Star Trek: Prosperity. This is a bi-weekly campaign with a multi-role Starfleet vessel that visits a planet, spends two or three sessions on that world (on average), and then visits another planet in the next adventure. The campaign is in its 8th year now. Even with holidays, sick days, and other cancellations and skipped sessions we must have gone to literally hundreds of planets by now.
Now most of these aren't fully fleshed out the way my Medieval Fantasy/Dungeons & Dragons-esque world of Aerth is. Aerth is over 40 years old and has been the setting for roughly a dozen campaigns (likely a little less than a dozen). There are people in the real world who know the layout of the streets of Rae-Uhn, the food of the island-continent of Corindel, and the location of the Cornerstone of the World. The cultures and history of the Elves, Dwarves, Ancient Humans, and even the Dragons have been explored.
People have 'lived' on Aerth. People will live there again. They will find that past events and the actions of previous Player Characters have had an influence on the people and places that they have interacted with. Likewise, their activities will effect those that come after them. If even one of them remembers this world and their experiences on it fondly later in their real life, I have successfully built a world.
AD
Barking Alien
BONUS FEATURE: Day 13 of the official RPGaDay 2024 Prompts:
Wow. I actually like this prompt. Fits with mine in a way. Cool.
I am big on evocative environments. When creating a game world I like to have a few interesting 'set pieces' not matter where the PCs go. These visually distinct environs serve as both background color.and interactive terrain.
Background color translates to the players being able to 'see' where their PCs are and how it informs the atmosphere of a sequence. A cloudy evening with light rain over a vast plain surrounding your small farm invests the scene with loneliness, melancholy, and perhaps a tinge of fear. Soaring high above the shimmering sea on the back o a dragon during a beautiful sunny day generates a very different mood.
Interactive terrain is an environment the PCs can use or which could be used against them. Think about snowy hills on an icy planet or in the deep winter of medieval europe. There is ice to slip on, banks of snow to hide behind, sliding downhill on your shield as a quick escape, and throwing snowballs makes for a great distraction.
Anyway, I highly recommend switching up the environment around the PCs to something other than a stony underground corridor or the same old Eurasian forest. Shake it up!
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