lodronsi

I’m curious what everyone here is using their worlds for? Are you creating them for a tabletop game experience? Are you using them as settings for your creative writing? Are they a world for video game or film? Are they an activity to escape this world for a little bit?

my story

I’m not sure I qualify as actively world building, although I’m working on finding some time for it. My focus is to build a world in which I can run dungeons and dragons campaign(s). I’m not focused on defining new races, animals, or flora. I’m reusing what is already available in that world but focused on the social/political/geographical constructs. I’m creating land for them to live, towns/cities/villages to inhabit, religious and political orders to inevitably cement disagreements, and a history of such events to motivate current affairs.

I’m maintaining it in a self-hosted dokuwiki to enable high level of cross linking all this content together.

Hello everyone,

I’m curious what people use to keep themselves organized when running a D&D (or similar) campaign.

I’m running my first one-shot this summer and have been exploring the world in which I will set it for a while now. I'm hopeful it'll turn into an opportunity to expand into a campaign.

So what tools do you use to build your world, campaign, or otherwise facilitate games?

Here's what I've been working with:

content

I have a self-hosted DokuWiki running. I’m using this to organize my campaign notes. I can write about politics, settings, events (past, present, future), NPCs, factions and more. The ability to cross-link everything allows me to draft encounters and other events and quickly reference the people and places. I can also export chunks like a book (pdf) to build subsets of content to share with players or to have for quick reference in person.

I have made some world maps using Wonderdraft and it's helped me visualize relationships between places. I started with hand drawing the maps, but it felt like it took too much time to make something I'd be willing to show someone as I'm not very comfortable with drawing in general.

encounters

I’m currently using Dungeondraft to create location maps. They are designed in a way to be usable with the various VTT tools although I plan to play the game in person. The maps still help me understand the space.

For in person game I’ll use a variety of 3D printed terrain options to build an interactive experience. I know it's not needed but I already have the printer and have made a bunch of terrain and miniatures because it's fun. I personally like the True Tiles model as it doesn't take as long to print, paint, and doesn't obstruct the view too much. I imagine I'll also probably use some Dungeon Sticks as well.

For minis, I really like Yasashii’s designs. I do have a mix of other ones, including one of the Reaper Minis Kickstarters. I do like Titancraft as an alternative to heroforge. It's pricing model supports making different poses and even a variety of NPC models to print.