I’ve been fascinated lately by games like Earthborne Rangers and Numinera. Post apocalyptic games but not a “Mad Max” hell scape. I was wondering if there is any guidance on how to create a world? I’m somewhat creatively challenged. The actual setting I have ideas for, but how do you transfer those to a ICRPG World?Do I need to create item cards? How many? All those mundane type of questions. Thx for any feedback!
Non-dystopian Post Apocalypse Setting Creation
Alex
#2
The best thing to do is just re-skin existing ICRPG items. In fact, I will often have players roll on existing loot tables and then just “translate” or convert the result on-the-fly, mid-game, into an item that belongs in the world. Doing it this way is so much easier than trying to do a ton of prep in advance. For example, if I roll a 16 on the epic loot table, that is Antlers of the Storm, +3 armor and command weather with a wis check. So, in a post-apocalypse setting, that’s a strange old army radio, with a weird dial on the front. It adds +3 armor attached to your harness, and using your wisdom to turn the dial changes the clouds overhead. Boom. Off we go. And, I would do the same for classes too. What makes sense? Just re-skin as you go.
As for “making a world,” there’s a ton of advice on this topic, but my best advice is not to envision the whole thing. Start small. It’s hard to plan out even a baseball field, much less a whole world. So, don’t overtax yourself with a ton of work that might not even see the table anyway. Envision one small place. Freddy’s Noodle House. Okay cool. Now, talk to your players and ask them questions. Why are they there? What are their relationships? What are they seeking? Where would they go after the Noodle House? Be future thinking, not past thinking, ie, sixteen pages of backstory. What events would intersect with them? Is there evil in the world, and what does it want more than anything? Then, allow your players to help drive next locations and steps. Before you know it, you have created the world together as players answer questions, determine next locations, and brush up against opposing forces. Just my two cents.
Alex is a great GM with great advice, and you should definitely run with what he said above. I will also add that for me it is helpful to boil a setting down to the 3-5 big truths: things that everyone in the world knows, understands, or believes, It could be that centuries ago there was an advanced technological civilization, and that their wonders can still occasionally be found in working order; also, there is a toxic jungle full of mutated mega-fauna, a result of the poisons and mutagens the ancients put into the land. Stuff like that. One sentence, not too much into the weeds, but gives you some big broad strokes. Then just come up with 2-3 big factions - the big players in the setting trying to get things done, and with whom your players may align or oppose. Then, once you’ve got your noodle shop, plop your characters down, and you’re off to the races.
pansophy
#4
Good advice in general, both answers! Looking at the ME book, this seems to be Hank’s approach, too. A few bullet points about past events, some regions, some factions and only as much as you can remember. Don’t plan for more than one session and let the players help you creating the world. It is a lot of fun to ask them about what things look like and what their characters see or smell and then I just run with it.
Takes off the burden of inventing everything and it allows players to create a world they want to play in.
pansophy
#5
Oh, I just remembered: one of my favourite methods is Hank’s adaption of the Circle Method. It helps me to get ideas on paper and helps overcoming the barrier in my head. It might be the way you are looking for. Also, it comes from the man himself, how cool is that?!
mkreitler
#6
Lots of great answers here, all of which point to the “meta-answer”: there’s no right way, or rather, the right way is the one that matches your style.
This article on Architect vs Gardener writing style might help sort things a bit: https://livingwriter.com/blog/gardener-vs-architect/
The TL;DR is most techniques fall on a spectrum between Architecht, where the author/GM plans out the world details in painstaking detail from the start (this would include things like custom class abilities, item cards, etc), all the way through to Gardener, where the author/GM gradually builds out the world one “planting” at a time (e.g., you write an adventure that feels like it fits; this establishes some lore, introduces some items, etc – but nothing more than what you need for the immediate chapter).
Most of us fall somewhere in between, as the above examples illustrate.
Personally, I usually start with a few pages of “creation myth” that explain how the world got to where it is and then build out a first complete adventure. The myth doc gives me a broad structure that can include long term campaign goals ("drive out the evil Space Elf invaders) while the adventure forces me to understand – but not lock me into – more fine-grained details.
…but…
…that may not be the right approach for you. I recommend some self-reflection: when you create your own adventures, how/where do you start? With player motivation? Making cool items for players to discover? Coming up with a neat boss with complex motivations? This will help you identify the level of detail at which your mind naturally works. Then, transfer this thinking from writing an adventure to creating a world. If you usually plot out your adventures from start to finish, you are probably more Architect than Gardener, so you’ll probably be more comfortable drawing up maps, thinking up locales and populating them with interesting classes, etc. If you often run games based on some core notes with a lot of improv, you probably lean more Gardner, in which case you can just jot down a scattershot of items, characters, and locations that capture the feel of your world, then figure out an adventure that incorporates some or all of them.
There’s really no wrong approach – other than taking a long time worrying about what your approach should be (and, yes, that’s the voice of experience talking…).
Excellent reply. I’d seen the gardener/architect concept in material I was reading on writing, but never thought to apply it to RPGs. I probably should have mentioned I am a solo player. I would be the world’s worst DM. I played solo war games for decades. I started dabbling in RPGs to get more of a narrative story. I like to work within a known world. My current fantasy favorite is Nentir Vale. The basic geography stays the same but the adventures get relocated with each adventure/campaign.
About a year ago I got a copy of Earthborne Rangers. Really liked the system and the setting. About a month ago I found Numenera. The setting was so interesting but the cypher system is a bit crunchy for my tastes.
I really like to easy Mechanics of ICRPG and genre agnostic system. I thought about trying to create something like a Numenera type world, bit using ICRPG.
I’m not the most creative, but am looking for ideas on how to best start to see if I could manage it.