Worldbuilding. It’s one of the most talked about aspects of running TTRPGs, as it is the sandbox into which you will throw your party to adventure in. We’ve talked about tips and tricks in past episodes and articles, and have come down on both sides of the debate surrounding how much to do with a focus totally on your specific table and party.
However, in this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave have decided to become a bit more involved with a new experiment that we cooked up. Something that has never been done on 3WD before – we’re going to start building a new world live! In real time, we begin asking the questions that will shape our new creation.
As this is a show by DMs for DMs, we’re adding another aspect. YOU! We’re asking you to share in the brainstorm and offer ideas. So, tune in now as 3WD starts building a whole new world!
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1:40 Introduction of our new experiment. Reach out to 3wisedms@gmail.com with your ideas and votes!
3:40 Low Fantasy? High Fantasy? Low Magic? High Magic? What do we mean by this.
7:40 Is our world completely new or a version of Earth (i.e. Middle Earth, The Dying Earth, Shannara)?
9:50 DM Tony’s idea of “High Magic” – a return to Greyhawk.
11:50 The concept of “starting small.”
13:35 What type of story does this world support? And can a world support ANY story?
16:35 Building a world that was our Earth (at some point) lends a sense of familiarity when you’re building your new world.
18:40 Towns? Cities? States? Kingdoms?
22:53 The archetypes and Tropes of stories. We ALL steal.
28:30 People will eventually congregate. The history of the world can’t always be “Mad Max”.
31:35 Looking to history.
36:00 Final Thoughts.
Got a Question?
3 Wise DMs mission is to help DMs with problems that you can’t find answers to in the rulebooks. If you’ve got a question or a problem, visit the website and enter it in the “What’s Your Problem” field. Or reach out to us at 3wisedms@gmail.com.
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Started listening to the podcast a few months ago, slowly but surely working my through the catalogue starting with episode #1. Just made it to #100 earlier today, just wanted to let you guys know how much I enjoy the show, the banter between the three of you, and all the great ideas you throw out every episode. Looking forward to catching up to you in real time. Keep up the excellent work!
Welcome!!
Thank you for listening and for reaching out! Please let us know if there’s any questions or issues that arise in your games that you’d like us to consider covering in an episode.
-Dave