In my last post I talked about how the abandonment of locations and their resettlement can be used to influence the way we design our RPG worlds. The discussion led into the idea of technologies that could be developed and subsequently lost along with a civilization, only to be rediscovered at a later date by different cultures. I know for a fact that many people have a mental disconnect when it comes to thinking of “technology” and their typical Dungeons & Dragons game world. I often think of technology in an RPG along the same lines as psionics, there seem to be a lot of people who love to use them and a lot of people who avoid using them altogether.
The Architect DM: World Building By Process
If you think about the world around us and how it came to be the way it is, most things you’ll look at are the result of a process. Villages were created out of a need for shelter and then grew into towns and some eventually grew into cities, while natural formations like mountain ranges rise and fall due to the workings of plate tectonics. When we set out to create a world for an RPG, or even for videogames and fiction, we are attempting to create a world that is the result of a process that has never actually happened. Some worlds can certainly have mountains that don’t line up along a range and aren’t even created by plates of earth shifting and colliding, but my personal belief is that if you are creating a world the best foundation you can use is that of the real world that we see all around us.
The Architect DM: World Building Basics
So far the Architect DM series has focused primarily on locations and building design, but today and over the next few weeks I’m going to take a look at the larger scale idea of world building and some factors that play into designing a realistic and believable world to play your games in. As with many of the design aspects I’ve talked about previously, designing a realistic world can feel like one of the most intimidating and daunting tasks to undertake but in reality if you apply principles correctly it can make your efforts easier and better at the same time.
The Architect DM: Give It Some Structure
Today I’m going to focus on what could be considered the biggest and most important architectural element that anyone could use. As things go, this element may also be one of the most overlooked when it comes to dungeon design for home games or even in published adventures. I’m talking about structure, and not the kind that makes sure your adventure has a beginning, middle, and end (though it can help with that with surprising ways) but the kind that if it were simplified to its most common element: you could just call it columns and walls.
The Architect DM: The Inverse Office Dungeon
I’d like to share an experiment with you, it’s something I’ve done to a minor extent and I believe it might be helpful to other people out there as well. Let’s say you find yourself in the situation where you need to design a dungeon and can’t think of how to do it, whether it’s a spur-of-the-moment situation or you’re just stumped while planning for next week’s game, you need a dungeon and can’t seem to figure out what to do.
The Architect DM: Fantasy Buildings 101
When it comes to designing locations and buildings, the DM/GM has a much more daunting task ahead of them than most players or even the DMs themselves realize. Thankfully in most of the RPGs we play and run it is far from crucial that the design of the world is 100% accurate and entirely believable. Most players are willing to suspend their disbelief to an incredible level and almost all DMs don’t really have the time to make sure every location they put into their game is believable. However, creating an environment that is believable can actually make your players lives easier because they will buy into the game on a more unconscious level. This added level of believability just might turn out to be the whole new layer of depth that your game needs.
The Architect DM: Environment and Interaction
It’s been a few weeks since my last Architect DM post, but don’t worry the series will continue and there seems to be a lot of information to cover! In my last post I talked about function and playability of a location in a more general and meta sense, but what I originally started that post to discuss was the specifics of how the environment is experienced. One of the most crucial considerations when it comes to design in Architecture is the human experience of the environment, after all the buildings are designed by humans for our own use and appreciation.
The Architect DM: Function & Playability
Welcome to the second installment of my series about applying real world design concepts to your own personal D&D or tabletop RPG world. Last week’s post was a relatively broad overview of the basic aspects to consider while designing a location. Today I would like to look at a different approach to designing locations, which involves thinking more about how the game will actually play out and how your players (and you as the DM/GM) will use and interact with the environment you’re creating.
The Planar Orphan
Eladrin of the Feywild are an enigmatic people. With a natural detachment from events that occur on the material plane, these creatures can seem heartless and uncaring. However those that have the privilege to call an Eladrin friend know the true extent of their love and compassion. Five hundred years ago, the Eladrin now known as Loch was sentenced to death for unspeakable crimes. Fleeing to the material plane, Loch has continued his lifelong experiments in hiding. After hundreds of years of experimenting with planar magic, the Eladrin wizard finally nears his goal – a creature merged with the essence of both the Feywild and the Shadowfell.
Monstrous Races in 4E D&D – Githyanki
In the Dragon article that previewed the githzerai race from the upcoming Player’s Handbook 3, the designers stated that the githyanki were not being developed as a PC race due to their villainous nature and they feel the drow has taken up the available real estate for a villainous race in 4th Edition.
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