By the Gods (3.5 world building help)

[Draconisister]

I am not a very good DM and relatively new at it. However I would like to create a new interesting world for my PCs to live in. I really hope I can make this happen after looking around a but and some advice from other places I have started work with the pantheon how ever I'm sorta stuck and lost now. I'm not sure how many gods I should have or what they rule over. Here is what I have so far ----

Pantheon

Over deity - Murvima
-mother goddess
-created the outer planes
-rarely worshiped
-6 children the major gods
--Timuri – Goddess of air
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--Urrga – God of earth
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--Asim – Goddess of fire
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--Ettamir – God of water
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--Bailme – Goddess of darkness
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--Lom – God of light
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--Lesser gods are the children of the major gods
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--demigods gods are the children of mortal and gods or mortals who have been elevated to god hood.
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-symbol – a burning crescent moon around a small pearl
-domains -
-Profile – (what they gods of) all other gods

I know its not put together very comprehensively it needs more details to be turned in to something coherent any advice or help completing it would be absolutely lovely.

After I finish the Pantheon I was going to work on the races of my world. I wanted to change some things about common races like dwarfs are not the epic miners and smiths they normally are but a race of feuding clans that live underground in natural cave complexes near the surface. and maybe even make one or 2 of my own. possibly just kill of the gnomes one of my players hates them and no one has ever played one in any of my campaigns.

Other than what i have described I have no ideas and sorta just stumbling around blind. I could really use some help from the community and veteran DMs(maybe some one to take me under their wing and make sure I don't make a fool of my self with this mess) making something unique and interesting for my players to lovingly abuse.(I also need to find a descent way to organize and later present all this info to my players and not over whelm them with my crazy way of doing things.) I thank you all in advance for any help you can offer.

[Freddrick]

I am not a very good DM and relatively new at it.

Just because you are new at something doesn't mean your not very good at it. It just means you need practice, kinda like riding a bicycle. Don't be afraid to start and don't be afraid to fail, just make sure you are having fun.


However I would like to create a new interesting world for my PCs to live in. I really hope I can make this happen after looking around a but and some advice from other places I have started work with the pantheon how ever I'm sorta stuck and lost now. I'm not sure how many gods I should have or what they rule over. Here is what I have so far ----

While I applaud your creative drive I think you have started at one of the least fulfilling parts of world building. Does it at flavor? Sure but its not the main course of the game, that is the world the adventure takes place in.

Start with the area the players will start in. Flesh that area out with the type of terrain, what kind of cities/people live there, any important historical events or figures that are from that area. Once you know what kind of people live there then work out what gods they worship. Now since you already have some gods, decide what kind of people worship these gods and then fill in any missing requirements there. Personally, for my first homebrew I just stole the gods from a pregenerated setting.



After I finish the Pantheon I was going to work on the races of my world. I wanted to change some things about common races like dwarfs are not the epic miners and smiths they normally are but a race of feuding clans that live underground in natural cave complexes near the surface. and maybe even make one or 2 of my own. possibly just kill of the gnomes one of my players hates them and no one has ever played one in any of my campaigns.

Be careful tweaking races, you don't want to break anything by making it too powerful or too weak. Check out some off the other supplements for the different kinds of dwarves and see if any of those fit your game. PLEASE be careful when just deciding to eliminate a race, especially if the reason is "because one of my players hates them." Just because no one has played one doesn't mean that someone wont decide to play one later on. One of the most memorable games I played in was an group made entirely of wee folk. Gnomes and halflings mostly, tallest member of the party was a dwarf.



Other than what i have described I have no ideas and sorta just stumbling around blind....(I also need to find a descent way to organize and later present all this info to my players and not over whelm them with my crazy way of doing things.) I thank you all in advance for any help you can offer.

Hopefully some of the stuff I mentioned helps. Another thing to consider is not just where the adventures will be happening but why are they adventuring. Are they seeking glory? treasure? paying off a debt? fighting a war? discovering lost civilizations?

As for the organization i recommend writing stuff down or putting it on your PC. Keep it handy in case you need to refer back to it and this way you can easily hand over info that the PCs need. I have also heard tales of people setting up Wikis for their campaigns if that would be easier for you to organize your thoughts.

Hope my rambling helps and happy gaming
-Freddrick

[Draconisister]

I started work on the pantheon because you can not have a world with out all of the supports. Gods may seem like fluff to most people but when you think about it they are really important to a world and the belief system says a lot about how a society would develop.

you warn me a bout tweaking races and removing them but minor tweaks aren't that big of an issue like for my dwarves taking away the craft skill and giving them a bonus some other skill wouldn't break them I don't think. stone cunning could be reworked(and renamed) to give like a bonus to survive while in caves or underground and let them find natural hazards that could be considered a trap. Why would completely removing a race cause that much of an issue in my eyes it would cause even less of a problem.

When i actually get down to making the actual world the PCs will explore i will start small with the area around where they start and work out words again after that.